


See u soon

by Anonymous



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Cooking, F/M, Female Kagami Taiga, Gen, High School, Humour, Light-Hearted, Slice of Life, Teen Crush, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:28:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 22,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27943787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Of all the people Wakamatsu Kousuke expected to see on a Friday evening, Seirin’s weeping ace was probably the last person on that list.
Relationships: Aomine Daiki/Kagami Taiga, Generation of Miracles/Kagami Taiga, Kagami Taiga & Kagami's Father, Kagami Taiga & Seirin High Basketball Team Members, Kagami Taiga & Wakamatsu Kousuke, Kagami Taiga/Kise Ryouta, Kagami Taiga/Kuroko Tetsuya, Kagami Taiga/Midorima Shintarou, Kagami Taiga/Wakamatsu Kousuke
Comments: 20
Kudos: 136
Collections: Anonymous





	1. Chapter 1

Of all the people Wakamatsu Kousuke expected to see on a Friday evening, Seirin’s weeping ace was probably the last person on that list.

Practice had ended early that day on account of exam prep, and as the weather was so pleasant, he decided to go for a walk before tormenting himself with class notes. Wakamatsu passed by the Winter Cup building, spoke with a few basketballers from other schools, and bought a can of coke at a convenience store.

It was when he exited the brightly-lit store and headed towards his home that he heard someone – a girl – crying. Following the sound into an alley, he readied himself to swing a punch in case it was the worst scenario; imagine his surprise that instead of another guy he saw Kagami Taiga cornered against a wall by a small white dog.

Wakamatsu actually did not initially recognize her. He was used to seeing Kagami in sportswear and sneakers; so the shock was doubled that not only was this girl harassed by a friendly little dog, but that girl was the fearsome basketballer who’d beat the Generation of Miracles.

They sat together on a bench outside her extremely nice apartment block in a _very_ affluent neighbourhood. Wakamatsu had given her his can of coke, and she drank it quietly beside him.

“You don’t really like dogs, do you?” he asked awkwardly.

Kagami shook her head. “I…I like them at a distance.” She took a sip. “A Doberman bit me when I was nine years old.”

“Ah.”

Silence. Kagami kept drinking the now-empty can of coke, then she said, “Could you please keep this incident to yourself?”

“Oh, sure.” Wakamatsu wrested the can from her grasp and tossed it into the bin. “Does your team know that you’re afraid of dogs? Isn’t your mascot one?”

Kagami went red as a rose. She sat still; her eyes were those of a guilty child who was caught red-handed with sweets. “I tolerate Nigou,” she said. “Kuroko and everyone else are really happy that I no longer flinch whenever the dog’s around, but that doesn’t mean I actively like it.”

Wakamatsu nodded. “Your nerves must be frayed.”

“ _Yeah._ ” Kagami sighed and turned to him. “Anyway, thank you for helping me out back there. I’ve no idea what I would have done if you hadn’t shown up – probably cry harder.”

“No problem,” said Wakamatsu, clapping her back. His eyes strayed to a man walking past them with a large dog. Pointing at it, he asked her if there were more in her area.

“Some of my neighbours own them, yes.” She suddenly looked tired. “It sucks.”

Wakamatsu stifled a laugh. Her tone was so drained that it was comic. Then an idea popped into his head and he turned to her. “Hey, Kagami, let’s exchange numbers.”

“…What?”

“My place is several blocks south of here,” he said, whipping put his mobile. “If you’re ever trapped in an alleyway by a dog then shoot me a text.”

She blinked. “You’re willing to do that?”

“I don’t mind going on walks, and it really isn’t a trouble for me to come here; especially if it means that the sole reason why Aomine has started coming to practice isn’t crying in an alley because of a chihuahua.”

She lightly punched him on the arm. “Dogs are scarier than you think, and chihuahuas have a lot of pent-up rage.”

Wakamatsu chuckled. “I’m not taking a cynophobe’s word on it. Come on, I’ll walk you to the entrance.”

The red flush and confused expression returned to her face when he opened the door for her. He waited until he saw her enter the lift, then he waved her off and left. The sky was an orange blanket mottled with clouds, and Wakamatsu found his mind wandering back to Seirin’s ace.

The only other girls involved in basketball were Momoi and Seirin’s coach, both of whom were as different to each other as they were to Kagami. The latter was even more striking because now that he really thought about it, today must have been the first time he had seen her in her school uniform (let alone a skirt).

 _You learn something new every day._ Who would have thought that Kagami Taiga was terrified of dogs? Little wonder she wanted him to keep quiet about it – Aomine would never stop taunting her should he discover this fact. The girl had enough on her plate what with the Generation of Miracles considering her a rival now, and her team expected her to live with that dog (Nigou was its name?); Wakamatsu was not about to make her life any more stressful than it already was.

***

Two weeks later he received a text message.

Wakamatsu put on a jacket and jogged toward her neighbourhood. From what he understood of the panicked text, Kagami could not leave her house because of a stray dog wandering in the courtyard. That was where he saw her: pressed against the glass, shooting daggers at the creature.

It took him less than five minutes to shoo the dog away. Wakamatsu turned, smirking at the relieved smile on her face. “Thank you,” she said as she stepped outside. “I started to think I wouldn’t get groceries today.”

“Let me walk you to and back from the shop,” he said. “In case the dog returns.”

“Sure.” Kagami led the way. “Let me treat you to dinner then.”

“You mean like buying me a bento—”

“I mean like cooking for you,” she corrected. “I’m quite good at it, and I live alone so you won’t have to make conversation with my dad.”

Wakamatsu started. “You live alone?”

She nodded. “My dad had to go back to California at the start of high school. He visits often, but I have the flat to myself most of the time. It’d be nice to have dinner with company for once. What do you say to that?”

“Uh…alright?”

“Okay.” Kagami turned away, and if Wakamatsu didn’t know better than he would’ve guessed she was smiling.

The supermarket was brightly-lit as always. Neat, clean, tidy. Produce sat primly on shelves and fridges, and Wakamatsu lingered by Kagami’s side as she went through her shopping list which – curiously – was written in English. He even heard her murmur in the foreign language while comparing the prices of meats.

Wakamatsu wondered whether Kagami was actually good at cooking or if she was a bit delusional about it like Momoi. No offense to the girl, but she could probably kill a man with her honeyed lemons. Judging from what Kagami was picking, it seemed like she planned to cook an American dish.

With the groceries bought, receipt taken, and coupons collected, the two of them went back to her block. They made small talk, most of which naturally comprised of basketball, and Kagami laughed heartily at his complaints against Aomine.

“Does he really skip _every_ practice session?” she asked

“He does!” Wakamatsu scowled. “Momoi and I work together to trick him into coming. Our schemes range from stealing his idol magazines to just bothering him till he shows up to the gym.”

“Whatever works, right?”

“Right!”

Kagami sped up her step, staring into the distance. “I think it’s good that I didn’t know shit about them back in middle school.”

“Why’s that?” asked Wakamatsu, genuinely curious.

She smiled faintly. “I was still adapting. Midorima would have absolutely corrected my grammar and I would have in turn snapped his neck out of spite.”

Wakamatsu whistled.

“My dad was very upset when he had to go back to California without me,” she continued while buzzing them into the building. “He sends me care packages once every two months, you know? American sweets, little trinkets he thinks I’d like, warm socks, etc.”

“Sounds like a good dad,” he said, letting her into the elevator before him.

“He is,” she agreed.

Entering Kagami’s apartment sent lightning down his spine. Her home was _huge._ It was _humongous_ , and while he inferred from the area that she was a rich girl, Wakamatsu didn’t expect her to be wealthy enough to afford such a spacious flat in central Tokyo.

“Come on in,” she said.

“It’s…”

“Big? My team said the same thing.” She set a carton of milk on the counter. “Feel free to make yourself at home. Oh, give me your phone – I’ll connect you to the wifi.”

Since he had nothing to do (and Kagami refused his help in the kitchen), Wakamatsu sat down on the sofa and checked his emails. When he had done that, he just started to refresh his social media pages. It was mostly gossip from Touou with a few notifications from the basketball’s team group chat.

His eyes kept straying around the room. It was fastidiously clean. The floors were polished; the curtains were crisply gathered and tied with ribbons; a dehumidifier buzzed away in the corner; minimal furniture and knick-knacks littered the room, and Wakamatsu couldn’t help but smile at the two basketball player figurines carefully posed on a metal shelf beside a stack of CDs. _She’s_ really _into basketball._

“Food’s ready!” exclaimed Kagami from behind the counter. “What do you want to drink: water or juice?”

Rising from his seat, Wakamatsu helped her set the table and asked for orange juice after he saw what she had cooked. “Don’t think I ever had macaroni and cheese,” said he dumbly. The dish was worthy of its picture being uploaded onto a food blog.

“God, now that you say that I wish I served you baked mac and cheese.” Kagami took off her apron. “It’s tastier than the stove-top style, although it is slower.”

“I’m sure it’ll taste great,” he offered.

Unhappy though she looked, Kagami sat across from him and gave him an ice-cold glass of orange juice. “Thank you again for shooing the dog,” she said, “and enjoy your meal!”

“Thank you for inviting me in,” said Wakamatsu, digging into the cheesy elbow-shaped pasta. No sooner had he put a forkful of it into his mouth than his taste buds revelled in delight. The sensation was the polar opposite of eating Momoi’s honeyed lemons. “It’s good! Kagami, this is delicious!”

“I’m glad you’re liking it, especially since this is your first time eating the mac and cheese!” Kagami grinned and raised her glass. “Cheers?”

Wakamatsu reciprocated the gesture gladly. “Cheers!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't heavily edited and revised - just something fun for me to write after I've found a cache of Wakamatsu/Kagami art - so forgive the occasional grammatical error and repetition of language. Besides that, I hope you guys enjoy the start of this little story and wherever it may lead us! If you did then please leave a comment >w<


	2. Chapter 2

Kagami Taiga had a very strict morning routine. She woke up and made her bed at once; then she took a quick shower, brushed her teeth, combed her short hair, and put on her school uniform. The commute to Seirin comprised of a brisk walk to the train station – the rest of the day was spent in academic torment and basketball practice before she returned to her lonely home.

Although her father had been good at regularly calling her, it was not the same as living with him under the same roof. Kagami had always been an independent girl. She had no problem keeping the house tidy and cooking for herself, she never missed paying rent, and she did not get into trouble (unless it involved schoolwork). But her independence could not replace movie nights or playing video games or just having supper together.

Which was why she was relieved when Wakamatsu started to visit her every now and then.

It started out small. Both of them were confident that the cheesy dinner following the second rescuing would be the first and last time the boy stayed at her flat. Then Wakamatsu’s bike broke in heavy rain; then Kagami despaired over Japanese geography homework and he offered to help; then they ran into each other at the supermarket and he insisted on carrying the grocery bags for her and she naturally invited him into her home.

Over the span of two months, a hundred trivial moments built up into something of a secret friendship. Despite their loud personalities, Kagami was not the kind of person to talk about herself at the drop of a hat and Wakamatsu had no reason to bring her up as anything besides Seirin’s ace at school.

Wakamatsu had steadily carved himself a spot as one of Kagami’s good friends _and_ a man in general. Wonderful though her basketball team was, they occasionally forgot that Kagami was a girl as well as a power forward on an all-boys’ team. Perhaps it helped that her encounters with Wakamatsu were not always centred around sports.

It was nice. Kagami Taiga was and will forever be tomboyish, but that didn’t mean she did not envy how the shorter, more petite girls in her class with shiny obedient hair and rosy cheeks got cards and compliments. No one bothered Kagami – which was an improvement from her Japanese middle school – but no one gave her flowers either.

Not to say that Wakamatsu gifted her bouquets because he did not; he did, however, open doors for her and brought her sweets when he came for tea.

They had plans on the last Saturday of January. Since technical Japanese flew over her head, Wakamatsu promised to help her fill out customs forms for her dad’s birthday package. Winters in Tokyo were colder than anything Kagami had weathered in her life, and as she had orders from Coach to not play basketball for a week to let her knees rest, she couldn’t even jump around in hopes of warming herself up.

Wakamatsu had texted her that Touou had a practice match at Kaijo High; she told him that she will wait for him outside the school. The girls at Kaijo were fashionable and, seeing that Kagami was dressed like a grandmother today, she had no desire to be seen by them or by either of the basketball teams.

Her resolve was soon broken by the chill. With a scowl and a foul temper, Kagami picked up the package and reluctantly walked towards the gymnasium. Inside said building, the boys enjoyed their lunches and spoke about everything that teenage boys were inclined to discuss.

She pushed the door open, and the players were confused by the appearance of a shapeless bundle of winter apparel. Well, everyone but Wakamatsu, who quickly ran up to Kagami and took the box from her.

“You look—”

“I know I look like a poor old woman in Victorian England,” said Kagami flatly. “This country is too cold.”

Wakamatsu smirked. He did _not_ think that his friend looked like a pauper. In fact, he found her appearance quite charming. Kagami wore black tights, a green corduroy skirt reaching below her knees, a thick blue coat, a thicker hat, and a white scarf and gloves. The clothes were sent to her by her grandparents, sympathetic to her shock to cold weather.

“Kagamicchi?” Kise (and everyone else) stared at her. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here for Wakamatsu,” she said, gesturing at him with her head. “How was the game?”

“Our overwhelming victory,” answered Aomine with a lifted brow. “You own skirts?”

“You show up to practice?” Kagami blew on her hands, still shivering. “Are you done?”

“I’m going to get changed and then we can go,” said Wakamatsu. “You any warmer?”

“No.” She pushed back his extended coat. “No number of layers are going to keep me warm at this rate. Tatsuya joked that the coldest winter of my life was a summer in Seattle and he was right up until now.”

Wakamatsu nodded, clapped her back, and hurried to change. Kagami stayed in the main gymnasium and plopped down on a bench, curling into herself in search of warmth. The sight was odd to absolutely everyone. Every inch of her was covered besides tufts of red hair peeking from beneath the white hat.

“Uh,” started Imayoshi, “why are you here for Wakamatsu?”

Slapping the box by her feet, Kagami peeked from her layers and said, “He’s going to help me send this bad boy back home to Los Angeles.” She flushed at the stares, though thankfully her cheeks were already red from the cold. “How was the game?” she repeated, hoping to break the tension.

“Kagamicchi!” Kise rested his hands on his hips. “How’d you even befriend him?”

“We just did.”

“Answer the question properly,” said Aomine, curiously annoyed.

She shrugged. “We just hang around in the same areas. Then we became friends. That’s it.” The answer was unsatisfactory, she could tell by their faces; but what else was she supposed to say? That’s literally what happened.

Before anyone – particularly Kise or Momoi, who watched her with mischievous eyes – could ask anymore questions, Wakamatsu returned into the gymnasium and picked up the box. “I’ll see you guys on Monday,” he said to his team. Then, with a smile, he said to Kagami, “Let’s go. The quicker we send this on its merry way, the quicker we can get you somewhere warm.”

“I’m going straight to my house afterwards,” she said, waving the boys goodbye. “You can come with me if you’d like. I’ve cake in the fridge so we can have tea.”

Wakamatsu met the invitation enthusiastically. It was always great to be in Kagami’s clean, spacious house, especially when she herself was in a good mood. And he knew she would be in better spirits by the time they go to her block – the prospect of warmth never failed to make her happy.

***

The atmosphere in the Kaijo gym was tense. Both teams were aware of their aces’ fondness for the red-haired girl, and their eyes naturally strayed to them. Aomine felt his arm twitch. Had he known that Kagami spent her free time chilling with Wakamatsu then he would’ve insisted that she stay at court longer, which was saying something as they could play for hours on end.

Even more frustratingly was that it was _Wakamatsu._ The guy was forever pissy over the fact that he skipped practice, and something within Aomine whispered to him that his ‘senpai’ definitely vented his anger to Kagami. She was, of course, familiar with his habits, but he wished she did not hear it straight from Touou’s loud centre.

Beside him, Kise still processed over what just happened. On one hand, Kagami was super cute in her winter wardrobe, scruffy though it was, but on the other he saw her affectionately bump shoulders with a blond man that was not him.

She was probably the least duplicitous person he had ever met. To him, her genuine nature outweighed her objective roughness compared to other girls and even boys. Kise cringed in embarrassment as he recalled his first impression of her: a prideful American girl that had stolen his Kurokocchi.

Kise asked Aomine if he knew of this little relationship, to which the latter snorted. “I really don’t care what my teammates are up to outside of sports. Hell, I don’t particularly care what they’re up to so long as we win matches.”

“Momoi?” Kise turned to her. “You know everything. Can you explain this?”

The girl snapped back to reality and shook her head. “I suspected that Wakamatsu-kun began seeing someone lately, but I’d no idea it was Kagamin!” She sighed. “That explains the recent improvement in his bentos…”

A sharp jolt shot down Aomine’s and Kise’s spines.

“What bentos?” asked Imayoshi, honestly confused. “They’re the same as ever, aren’t they?”

Momoi shook her head. “Three weeks earlier, Wakamatsu-kun started to occasionally bring bento boxes that came straight out of a cooking magazine. My research revealed that what few classes Kagamin attended in middle school here in Tokyo, she excelled in home economics.” She shrank slightly. “Tetsu-kun himself said that Kagamin is a superb cook. Apparently, she can tell what went into a sauce by taste alone.”

“By taste alone!?”

The gym was a-sputter. Truth be told, no one really thought about Kagami in aspects outside of sports. Thus, the shreds of information they received felt like an onslaught. Kasamatsu in particular really considered the girl. Now that he properly, fully thought about it – she was pretty serious. The few times he’d seen her in workaday life was at shops, and, in retrospect, her bags were filled with groceries and household items. Despite her casual way of speaking – likely the result of growing up abroad – Kagami had been prim and polite, never sticking her nose in his business.

Normal people probably acted like that. Still, it was refreshing to be able to speak to a girl whose manners were as reserved as his own (meaning he didn’t freeze up as badly as he did with other women).

Kise stomped his foot against the linoleum floor. “Momocchi!” he cried. “Is Kurokocchi in the know of this?”

“Good thinking, Kise!” Aomine clapped his back. “What does Tetsu say of this?”

“We can ask him!” She pulled out her phone. “I’ll text him to meet us at Maji Burgers. You two better get changed! We’ve an investigation to conduct!”

With the speed of two bullets fired in rapid succession, they were gone. Imayoshi snorted at the unprecedented enthusiasm on his junior’s behalf; it would be extremely funny (for him) if Wakamatsu was actually dating that girl and she was just too shy to tell the truth. Now _that_ would humble Aomine like nothing else on this earth. 


	3. Chapter 3

“What do you mean you don’t know?” demanded Aomine. “You sit behind her in class.”

“That doesn’t mean I know what Kagami-san does outside of it,” answered Kuroko calmly, sipping on a milkshake.

There were four of them at this table at Maji Burger. Kuroko had been walking his dog when his former schoolmates found and dragged him to the fast-food joint for an ‘emergency’. It turned out that his light had befriended Wakamastu from Touou and he was admittedly a bit curious as to why Kagami did not inform him of the new friendship.

“But you know her better than we do,” said Kise. “Are you sure Kagamicchi did not act strange during practices or something? She’s like an open book – you must’ve realised something.”

Kuroko hummed. “Kagami-san said her father’s birthday is coming up; we went to buy gifts for him that she could send via post.” He tilted his head. “Aomine-kun, what exactly is the issue with Wakamatsu-kun seeing Kagami-san? Is he an unsavoury person?”

“Yes.”

“No!” exclaimed Momoi, smacking her schoolmate. “Wakamatsu-kun is loud and blunt, that’s all, and he wants Dai-chan to attend practices. Otherwise, he’s a nice guy through and through.”

“A nice guy seeing Kagamicchi, who doesn’t seem to understand when we flirt with her,” complained Kise.

That was a careful rephrasing. Kuroko was well-acquainted with his new light’s density. It was amusing to watch her misinterpret Aomine’s suggestions to go on a date as an invitation for a one-or-one or the way she shrugged off Kise’s hugs and pats as entirely friendly. He nearly snorted when she missed how Midorima blushed at her begrudging thanks for his lucky pencil and just not getting the point when Akashi called her down to spend a day in Kyoto.

It was all fun and games for Kuroko. Until he offered to take her to an amusement park and she immediately lit up, saying how fun it will be to go there with the whole team.

“If it makes you feel better, I will speak to her about this at school,” he said, setting down the milkshake. “Still, I do think we are worrying over nothing. Like Kise-kun said: Kagami-san does not get it when people flirt with her. That means she will misinterpret any hints from Wakamatsu-kun when or if he flirts with her.”

Momoi sighed. “I’m surprised Kagamin is single,” she said. “Of all the girls in your school I bet she’d be the most approachable since she’s like one of the guys.”

“Kagami-san has been busy with basketball.”

His former schoolmates muttered something under their breaths while Momoi smiled. “Well,” she said to them, “if either of you manage to get her on a date and have her understand that it’s a date then you must tell me all about it. I want to know how she will dress in that scenario.” Her grin widened. “Her legs are shapely, aren’t they? Skinny jeans would suit her really well.”

“They are.” Kuroko then slyly added, “Long hair suits her too.”

Two stern glares fell on him. Kuroko smiled faintly. It paid to be a frequent guest at her house – she took him to her house often and he’d once spotted an album filled with pictures of his light with pigtails and bright headbands. Annoyed though she was with him for opening it without permission, Kagami revealed to him a picture of her with the cutest twin ponytails in exchange of a photo of him from elementary school.

***

Steam rose from the hot mug, and Kagami purred like a motor engine as it warmed her hands. Wakamatsu cut into the chocolate cake with the side of his fork. The silence between them was of the easy sort. He relished the flavours dancing on his tongue, and thanked his hostess for introducing him to so many foreign desserts.

“You can think of yourself as my professional taste tester,” she said. Then, resting her cheek in the palm of her hand. “I’ve a huge appetite, but not even I could stomach everything I bake during the experimentation phase.”

“It’s hard for me not to eat it all – you’ve no idea what sort of things Momoi cooks up occasionally.”

Kagami snorted. “My coach is a terrible chef as well. I tried to teach her how to cook curry, and she insisted on sneaking supplements when my attention was elsewhere.” She poured hot water into the mug, dropping another bag of tea. “Sometimes I wish Seirin had home economics; it would have been nice to have one subject that I’m good at.”

“What about English?” he asked. “You lived how many years in California?”

A stricken look passed briefly across her face. “Nine and a half,” she said. “But English in Japan is far too formal. My best subjects at my old school were P.E. and American literature.”

“American _literature?_ ”

She frowned. “Is it really that strange?” Wakamatsu gaped. Then he shook his head and was about to apologize for his tone when she snorted. “I listened to YouTube audiobooks of whatever we covered in class while playing basketball or tidying the house. Made my life so much easier. But then I was thrown into a classroom where no one cared that I wrote an essay on _The Great Gatsby_ worth a B! And before you say anything: yes, that was the highest mark I received.”

The words were laced with stifled frustration. Wakamatsu noticed that her smile faded into a small frown. “What does it matter that you have atrocious grades?”

“What do you mean ‘what does it matter’?” She sounded startled. “Because I won’t be able to play basketball in peace with them.”

“Ah, I guess so.”

The silence turned uneasy, especially for Kagami. When Wakamatsu had started helping her with geography homework, she was not keen on showing him the full extent of her lacking academic knowledge. It came out anyway, when he accidentally saw her report card, and she was yet to be fully comfortable with it. _Well,_ she thought, _might as well become proper friends today._

“…feel stupid about it.”

Wakamatsu blinked. She mumbled so quietly he barely caught what she said. “Um, could you repeat yourself?”

Kagami refused to meet his eyes. Taking a deep breath, she said, “I feel stupid. I’ve never had good grades, though in America I could somewhat keep up with the class. The language here is difficult, and my teammates call me ‘Bakagami’ after I score pathetically low on tests – which happens oftener than I care to admit.” She scowled. “Even when I got my best grade, I had to rely on Midorima’s magic pencil instead of my own head.”

Ignoring the nonsensical part of that sentence, Wakamatsu watched the fierce ace hunch her shoulders in shame. That will not do. So, he reached for her hand – startling her – and gave her the warmest smile he could muster.

“And?” he asked. “Aomine told me that Midorima couldn’t cook to save his life, and Aomine cannot clean up after himself – he’s like a baby in that regard.” He tightened his grasp. “Don’t worry about your marks that much. When it comes to everyday life – like paying rent and arranging your own visits to the doctor’s office – no one can beat you.”

Kagami stared at him for a few minutes without commenting. At all. Dread and doubt started to fill Wakamatsu quicker than a flood; did he fuck up? Should he have just said ‘That sucks’ and hum knowingly? Or would that be too crass?

Then, like sunshine on a rainy day, her mouth curved into a smile and she laughed.

“You must be the nicest guy in Tokyo,” she said in-between her giggles. Placing her spare hand over his, she squeezed it as her eyes gleamed with joy. “You’re right. I don’t think anyone in my class or yours is good at actually living as I am.”

“That’s right!” reaffirmed Wakamatsu, absolutely pleased with himself. “Don’t let poor marks lower your self-esteem.”

“I will!”

The remainder of tea time went by pleasantly, and once they were finished Kagami sprang to her feet to fetch the handkerchief he had left at her place last week. It smelled of lavender; the corners were neatly pressed with no crease in sight.

Wakamatsu had learned to expect nothing but perfection from her where domestic affairs were concerned, and he was unsurprised at the fuzzy feeling which bloomed in his chest as she pressed the fabric into his palm; or at the kind encouragements she provided when he lamented dealing with Aomine on Monday’s practice. He liked it, and he liked her smiles.

“Listen, Kagami.”

“What?”

She stood beside him at the door, to see him out, clutching at her hanten. The weather must be incredibly warm in California if this was how she reacted to the cold. “What is it?” she repeated when he took too long to answer.

“Are you busy next Saturday?” he asked

“I don’t think so. Why?”

“In that case, do you want to go to a café or Maji Burgers together? My treat.”

Wakamatsu had the satisfaction of seeing her wear a truly confused expression. She seemed to falter a bit. “You of all people ought to know better before treating _me_ to food,” she said flatly.

“That is why I saved up some money,” he said calmly. “You’re always treating me to home-cooked lunches and cakes and tea; let me do the same for you this time.”

“I’ll be mindful then.”

“It’s fine!” He clapped her back. “If you really feel that bad, then you can buy us the beverages – I’ll cover the bulk of the cost of though.”

“Alright,” she said, smirking, “but only because you insist.”

Kagami made her displeasure obvious with her tone. It did not stop her, however, from smoothing his coat and commanding him to text her upon reaching his house (so she knew his walk went well). Then she waved him off, her hand covered by the sleeve of the hanten, and shut the door with a soft click.

About an hour later Wakamatsu sent her the promised text. Five minutes later his phone lit up with a notification heralding a thumbs-up emoji. His spirits were higher than they’ve ever been this term. Grabbing the glass jar he’d used as a piggy bank, the coins jingled and paper notes rubbed against one another as he already imagined how his meet-up with Kagami would the coming Saturday.

Did he like her? He did. No doubt about it. Her personality clicked well with his, and it was nice to play one-on-one with a person who loved basketball with her whole heart. Time passed quickly and happily beside her; she taught him how to cook mac and cheese and he showed her how to correctly chug milk. And he had not even mentioned what joy it was watching horror films with her or, even better, listening to her complaints and questions about Japan.

Wakamatsu pulled the blanket over his body and tried his best to fall asleep. He smiled like a fool, twisting and turning in bed. Sleep escaped him. Instead of sweet dreams, the smell of lavender, the echo of her laughter, and her mischievous smirk filled his head well into the night.


	4. Chapter 4

Kagami entered the class, greeting Kuroko with a smile. She liked coming to school early; not for the classes, God no, but to monopolize the empty room and chat with her friend. They sat at the back by the windows; a perfect place to doze off during a boring lecture. It was a sunlit morning as well, so she already sensed that the warm rays will soon tempt her back to sleep.

“Good morning, Kagami-san,” said Kuroko. He set aside the light novel in his hand and pulled the chair for her. “How was your weekend?”

“Pretty good!” She plopped down and crossed her legs. Had she had her way then Kagami would have worn the male school uniform. She even went so far as to ask permission to wear it, and was swiftly rejected. Leggings and tights had become a staple addition to her wardrobe. “I sent the package to my dad. What about you? What’d you do?”

“I met up with Kise-kun, Aomine-kun, and Momoi-san,” he said. Blue eyes glanced at her. “Did you send the package with Wakamatsu-kun?”

A slow, sheepish smile took over her face. “They told you, huh?”

“They did.”

She whistled. “Cat’s out of the bag then,” she said, leaning back.

“Kagami-san, may I ask how you befriended Wakamatsu-kun?”

“Oh, we ran into each other outside a convenience store. He shooed a dog away from me. Then we exchanged numbers and just started to hang out on the weekends.” Abruptly she turned to face Kuroko directly, an excited gleam in her eyes. “Now that you’re in the know, I can tell you something special!”

Kuroko perked up at the words. His light was an excitable person. Loud, boisterous, bold. Yet for once her expression was not of determined ferocity, but of childish enthusiasm. The February sun splashed onto her, giving her choppy hair a warm glow; and was that a blush on her cheeks?

“After we sent the package to California,” started Kagami, “Wakamatsu and I went to my house for cake and tea. We had a nice long chat, I was properly warmed up after venturing into the cold, and when he was readying to go home, he asked whether or not I was free this Saturday.”

“What did you answer?”

“I was! I mean,” she laughed, “I said I was free on Saturday. My immediate assumption was that he wanted to play one-on-one, you know? There is a basketball court near my home, and I’m always down to throw some hoops. But, to my great surprise—” her smile widened into a grin— “Wakamatsu invited me to a café! His treat! Although we haven’t discussed the details yet, I’m so excited to go!”

Having spent last night brushing it off as an entirely friendly thing – nothing different to their regular outings – Kagami slowly but surely hyped herself up for Saturday. It was not an everyday occurrence, having a guy invite her to a café, let alone insist to cover the bill while knowing her appetite.

“Kagami-san,” said Kuroko with his common flatness, “are you dating him?”

She huffed. “No,” she said wryly, and all earlier apprehensions crashed back into her. “Kuroko, I might be a bit dull when it comes to learning,” she smacked the textbook on her desk for emphasis, “but I’m clever enough to realise that to get a boyfriend I have to return to America.”

Kuroko blinked. “Why do you say that?”

With an exaggerated stretch, she yawned with a cat’s satisfaction before responding. Kagami placed an elbow on his desk, and if Kuroko had not known her as well as he did then he would have thought she was indulging in self-pity. Especially when she pointed at their schoolmates through the window and said:

“Look at me. Now look at those girls in the courtyard. Most Japanese girls are small and petite with tame hair and pale skin. I’m like the _exact_ opposite of that. And Aomine, in his brasher moments, openly lamented about my…” she trailed, and gingerly waved her hand around her upper torso.

 _Aomine-kun…_ Not for the first time, Kuroko felt second-hand embarrassment from the man’s behaviour around his light.

“You’re probably going to think this stupid,” continued Kagami, “but I like how Wakamatsu treats me like a girl.”

“Like a girl?”

“You know!” Her posture straightened, and cheer once again exuded from her. “He opens doors for me, insists on carrying my bags, and he bought me this!”

Kagami lowered her head and pointed at a golden bobby pin with a little star on the end. Kuroko complimented it, and she ruffled his hair in thanks. Soon their classmates walked into room en masse, so the conversation was cut short. The first lesson was mathematics. Front of him, he saw how his friend glowered at the equations in their workbook; however, Kuroko was more troubled by how often she raised her hand to see if the pin was in place.

The remainder of the day and practice went by in much the same manner. Kagami was her normal self except the few times she blushed when other girls and their seniors took note of her new accessory. Kuroko watched her keenly, and after practice he attached himself to her despite her protests of doing nothing interesting.

“I’m just going to buy groceries!” she complained. “Then I’ll be off to my house; you should follow my example and go home before it darkens.”

“Let me walk you to the station,” he said, and seeing her gloved hands tremble wrapped them with his own. “Kagami-san, are you still unused to the cold?”

“Don’t think I’ll ever get used to it,” she said, cheeks redder than apples. “Fine. You can come with me to the station. But you have to tell me what’s this giri-choco honmei-choco nonsense all the girls are prattling about.”

***

Aomine, for once, showed up to practice. Late though he was, Wakamatsu was content with the fact that he was there for half of it. Better than nothing.

What he was not content with was how intent the bastard was on harassing him. Aomine kept stealing the ball from him, pushed him around, rolled his eyes at any remark, and when he was not being a bother, he distanced himself from the centre. Practice was made difficult, but Wakamatsu managed.

Inside the changing rooms he sat beside the captain, tying a double-knot on his outdoors shoes, when a notification lit the screen of his phone. It was from Kagami. Wakamatsu smiled and opened it with a swift move of a thumb.

‘Did you decide where we will go on Saturday?’ she had texted. ‘Maji Burgers or the café?’

‘Café. I know a good one, and it’s not too far from your house. I’ll pick up at 12pm?’

‘Sounds good! I’ll see u soon then.’

‘See you!’

“Who’re you texting?” said Imayoshi, his face awfully close.

Wakamatsu flinched and sprang up to his feet, hiding the phone deep in his bag. “No one!” he snapped. Then, calming down, added, “Well, a girl.”

“A girl?” Imayoshi smiled slily. “Is she cute?”

“She is,” said Wakamatsu, reluctant to talk about Kagami with his teammates. “I’m taking her to a café on the weekend.”

Unbeknownst to him, Aomine tensed at the words and quietly resolved to spam Kuroko about this tonight. The guy was basically taking her on a date! How on earth did he manage that? No matter how he himself tried to clue her in, she always scrunched her nose and told him to ‘stop fooling around and play basketball’.

“It’s Kagami, isn’t it?” asked Imayoshi. “We all saw how sweet you were with her on Saturday!”

A blush crept up Wakamatsu, painting his cheeks and ears pink. He supposed that the conclusion was inevitable after the weekend and decided to make the best of it. “She’s really sweet off court,” he said. “And if I didn’t know any better, I’d think she was trying to fatten me up with how much food she offers me. Now that’s she’s gotten into baking patisserie, I rarely leave her place empty-handed.”

“But doesn’t she eat a lot?” piped in Sakurai. “She can throw punches, too!”

Wakamatsu stared at him flatly. “Doesn’t that make her hot?” he asked, and that was the end of that.

The boys waved each other goodbye as they parted ways at the school gate. Aomine’s stare lingered on Wakamatsu as he hopped onto his bicycle. There was a guy who seemed to have won Kagami’s affection and attention outside of basketball. A gloomy cloud hovered over his head that refused to dissipate until he reached his house. Aomine greeted his parents, and then went to take a bath.

The hot water and steam lightened his temper a bit. Of course, he was still all annoyance at situation in which he found himself. It was no secret that he liked Kagami. She had caught his interest early on, though it was only after she beat him that Aomine finally connected the dots in his head that lead to him lending her shoes and regularly playing basketball with her.

It would have been nice had she noticed how he flirted with her when they played one-on-one. But then would that be Kagami? The Kagami Taiga experience as he saw it was that you’ll have the most fun game of basketball that left you tired as a dog; and as the two of you panted on a nearby bench, any question that is not direct will be received with dry sarcasm or a roll of the eye. Should the question be of a romantic nature then all hope was lost. Aomine had once asked her out on an honest-to-god date, yet by forgetting to specify that it was a date he had to deal with Murasakibara and his friend that paraded himself as Kagami’s brother.

“Daiki!” his mother yelled. “Dinner’s almost ready so you best start dressing!”

“Got it, Mom!” he yelled back before lowering himself in the tub for five more minutes. The heat felt good, and as he reclined back an idea popped into his head.

What if Aomine just ‘accidentally’ encountered Kagami while she was on her little date? He’d invite her to a one-on-one – an offer she cannot resist – and although he will be forced to deal with Wakamatsu, the silver lining was that he will rob them of privacy.

 _I’ll have to confer with Satsuki,_ he thought. _Tetsu, too. Once I figure out where exactly they plan to meet up, I can bide my time and swoop in with that nugget of gold that Kagami will snatch from my open hand._

He chuckled to himself. It was a great plan if he dared to say so himself, and as a treat he imagined the shocked expression on Wakamatsu’s face when Kagami would undoubtedly seize an opportunity to play against Aomine. _Oh, Daiki, you’re a clever one!_


	5. Chapter 5

By the time Friday came, Kuroko had learned everything about Kagami’s weekend plans. He suspected all the excitement that she’d hidden for months finally spilled over now that he knew of her friendship with Wakamatsu, and so she happily asked his opinions on where they were going and what would make for good conversation.

“You’ve spoken before with him, haven’t you?” he had asked her on Wednesday. “Why are you so nervous?”

“It’s not that I’m nervous, but I’ve never been in a café with a guy by myself in Japan.” She threw the ball into the basket, and turned to face him. “It would’ve been different if it were the two of us alone – I don’t think I’d ever feel awkward around you.”

The warmest expression flickered on her face that for a moment Kuroko forgot his envy. Soon though she went back to chatting about her weekend plans; he tried his best to be supportive as she told him how Wakamatsu will pick her up at twelve (despite her protestations that they can meet up halfway) and take her to a café called _The Coffee Club._

Her positive disposition stuck with her the entire week. It had been so intense that their seniors eventually took note of it during practice. Kagami smiled more, laughed more, and unsurprisingly dunked more than usual. Had Kuroko not known the root of her joy then he would’ve wholeheartedly shared her enthusiasm; it was difficult not to when there was that determined gleam in her eyes and mischief on her mouth.

 _Knock-knock_ went the door to the boys’ changing room. It creaked open, revealing the still-flushed face of his friend. “I’ll be heading home now,” she said. “I’ve an errand to run before it gets dark.”

“What sort of an errand, Kagami?” asked Kiyoshi, donning his jacket.

“Oh, I have to drop off a letter to the housing agency.” She fiddled with her scarf. “It’s for the landlord.”

“Mind you don’t fool around at that basketball court near your house!” Coach smacked the nape of her neck and folded her arms. “You have to let your legs – your knees specifically – rest for next week’s practice game. I won’t have you injuring yourself because you can’t control your temper!”

Although she did not argue with Coach, Kagami’s brow creased and Kuroko practically heard her chewing over the imposed conditions. She had wanted to play with Wakamatsu tomorrow so this was a downer on her plans.

Was it selfish that he was just a little pleased by it? Obviously, it was bad that his light once again disregarded her knees in the heat of the moment, but still there was a tiny part of him that sighed in relief at the news. He comforted her with a pat on the shoulder, and Kagami smiled at him before reluctantly conceding to the terms with a solemn promise. Then she waved them all goodbye, shutting the door behind her, and Kuroko heard her energetic footsteps fade the further she walked down the hall.

Kiyoshi grinned and placed hands on his hips – the very image of a pleased older brother. “I hope she has fun.”

Hyuga raised a brow. “You think going to a housing agency is fun?”

The grin on Kiyoshi’s face widened as he clapped the captain’s back. “Kagami’s been smiling a lot more this week, don’t you think? And we don’t have any tournaments soon!” He laughed. “Moreover, she’s been paying closer attention to her phone; you should’ve seen how jumpy she was when I wrested it from her out of curiosity!” He then announced, “I bet it’s because of a boy!”

Everyone sans Kuroko stared at Kiyoshi. A boy? Kagami had shown little to no interest in any of the boys of which they know, and since their very first practice she stubbornly insisted that improving her play – later defeating the Generation of Miracles – came before any ‘stupid romances’.

“Uh,” Hyuga faltered, “you want to tell us what you saw on her phone?”

Kiyoshi, picking up his bag, shook his head. “I’m sworn to privacy; and she’ll certainly tell us when she feels like it. But this must explain her cheeriness, don’t you think?”

“I just assumed she didn’t do too horribly on the kanji proficiency test,” said Izuki. “Low scores would’ve threatened her club participation.”

Easy conversation resumed, and Kuroko quietly turned on his phone to text Momoi. His friend had been gathering information at Aomine’s behest – he’d apparently been coming to practice in return for any clues as to where Kagami and Wakamatsu would spend their date. As he was just about to type the message, however, a notification appeared at the top of the screen.

It was from Midorima. Heavens only knew from where he heard this, but heard it he did and he curtly asked Kuroko whether or not it was true that Kagami was dating ‘the loud one’ from Touou. The answer of ‘I don’t know’ was met with being left on read for ten minutes followed by a curt ‘I see’.

Kuroko sighed. He had wondered how his light had completely missed the hints from himself and his former classmates, and the fact that the answer was her thinking no guy in Japan would like her enough did not sit well with him. The discomfort he felt upon hearing it had increased over the week. When she first came to Japan, she would’ve been too young to have had a boyfriend, and then she was too busy with club activities to even think about that sort of thing.

Now though? Now they had secured their respect in the eyes of other teams, and they were all comfortable enough with each other to not spend every free moment bonding or adapting to each other’s play. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, the time was ripe to sow the seeds to ask Kagami out and – hopefully – see her give Wakamatsu giri-choco instead of honmei-choco. Hopefully.

***

“You should wear a skirt!”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, crabby. “I look strange in them.”

“You absolutely do not, my dear. Go try on the one we bought on my last visit.”

With a groan she did as her father told her; whose beaming face took up the whole of the phone screen. Kagami had inherited a fair number of traits from him, including her hair and height and nose. Compared to her peers, she had a smaller age difference with her father thanks to his somehow convincing her mother to wed him whilst in university. It was like a speed run of that nursery rhyme: first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a carriage. So, the jovial nature of their conversations was to be expected of a sixteen-year-old daughter and a thirty-eight-year-old father.

“You look so sweet!” He clapped his hands, demanding that she spun around for him to get a better glance.

“I’m going to freeze,” she said flatly.

“Well, if you wear trousers you’ll wind up playing basketball no matter the consequences,” he remarked. “Didn’t I get you those thick wool blend leggings? I know Tokyo is colder than L.A. by tenfold, but surely it’s not that bad.” The screen went blurry as he left the app, then there was a _pang_ as he sent a photo into their chat. “See, you used to tolerate it!”

She picked up the phone and with quick movement checked to see what it was he sent her; an exasperated sigh escaped her when she saw it was a picture of her as a baby, sitting on a sled, bundled up in at least five layers of clothes. “What sort of argument is this?” she demanded. “I don’t even remember what snow feels like!”

A pause. Then he said, “We can correct that. Next time I come visit, let’s go to Akita to see Tatsuya.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

Kagami popped her head into the view of the camera, a grimace marring her face. “You uh—” she faltered, “—I mean, remember how angry you were—”

“When he hit you?” His tone lost all its mirth. “I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and scrape it on the then-looming divorce of his parents, but if he hits you again then I will bring it up to his mother.”

“I told you already that we made up,” she said quietly. “And besides, Tatsuya is going to bring his friend with him and you won’t like him. And they’re so inseparable that I’m almost jealous – which one of us is his sister?”

“His friend is the purple one, yes?” asked her father.

“Yes, that’s him. Name’s Murasakibara.” Kagami tried her best to keep him informed of the happenings in her life, and she hardly blamed him for not remembering the names of all her rivals – let alone those up in Akita or down in Kyoto. Not to mention her big argument with Tatsuya a few years back had rubbed her father the wrong way and he’d been more wary of him as a result. She was sure that had he not known Tatsuya since he was a little boy then he would’ve riled up against him with his whole soul.

“And you’re going on a date with Kasamatsu, right?”

“It’s _not_ a date and his name is Wakamatsu,” she corrected. “Kasamatsu is the captain of Kaijo High; Wakamatsu is a centre at Touou.”

Her father sighed. “I liked it better when I saw everyone with whom you spoke. These children are all names to whom I’ve no reference.”

Kagami plopped down on her bed, phone in hand, and focused on his exasperated face. “I’ll send you a picture of us tomorrow,” she said. “Then you’ll memorise him and his name. Will that make you happy?”

“I’ll be happy so long as you spend the day well.” He smiled, and Kagami not for the first time noticed the wrinkles at the corners of his red eyes deepen. “If he so much as dares to mistreat you then you call me first thing you get home, alright?”

She scoffed. “Wakamatsu is nice! He’d seen me go ham on court and at lunch and still invited me _as a friend_ to a café.”

A condescending smile split his face. “Sure, sure, ‘as a friend’, of course,” he said jauntily. “Regardless, I’d like you to hear how your day together went afterwards, alright? It’s not every day my daughter is flattered by boys!”

“Oh, would you stop that!” she snapped. 

He laughed at her embarrassed face. Then – as they always did at the end of every phone call – her father blew her a kiss and wished her well. Gestures of affections were reciprocated on her part. The screen soon went black. Kagami let her phone drop to the side as she raised her legs up, dreaming of tomorrow. While basketball was swiftly scribbled out of her agenda, she was intrigued as to how they will spend time tomorrow. Wakamatsu had told her to leave it all to him, after all, implying he had ideas of his own and it’d be rude of her to trample on them.

Rising from the bed, Kagami parted her fringe with that lovely star pin and set about preparing for tomorrow. Where were those leggings of hers? Maybe she’ll layer them with stockings, or put on those legwarmers her grandparents sent her. Yes! Her legs must be warm or else she won’t enjoy her day at all.


	6. Chapter 6

Noon was clear and cold. Wakamatsu flexed his fingers in an attempt to warm them as he walked down the street. Gloved though they were, the February chill seeped deep into his flesh and he could only hope that the bright sun will bring more warmth later. A bigger concern was how Kagami would react to the cold; she found the minutest drops in temperature chilling and oftener than not was too stubborn to admit it till her teeth clacked like a nutcracker’s.

The wealth of the neighbourhood no longer astounded him as much as it did, though he still could not wipe the simper off his mouth when he recalled how stiff she got upon revealing how the captain of her team once scolded her for suggesting to spend the night to watch some game.

“There are crappy motels all over the U.S.,” she said in her defence.

“But _you_ never stayed in them, did you?” he countered.

“…No. No, I did not.” She huffed before reminding him that he also went to a private school.

He snickered. Then, exiting the elevator, he briskly headed towards the white door of Kagami’s penthouse apartment. Three firm knocks and a minute’s wait were met with the clicks of opening locks. Kagami greeted him with a grin, ushering him inside the flat. “How cold is it?” she asked. “Should I wear my hat?”

“Definitely.” Wakamatsu tilted his head slightly to the left. “I didn’t know they made overalls for girls that size.”

“Oh, this was from the men’s section. It’s a bit big for me; but better too big than too small.” Kagami laced up her boots, put on a fuzzy coat and gloves, and covered her head with a fluffy white hat. With a messenger bag strapped across her chest and keys in hand, she flashed him a toothy smile and said, “Let’s go!”

The journey to the café was as fun as it was cold. Kagami blew on her hands as they conversed. “Valentine’s Day is next week,” she said as they crossed the street.

“Yeah, you’re right.” He hummed. “You have a practice game that day, don’t you?” She nodded. “With whom?”

“Shuutoku.” Kagami frowned. “Kuroko told me that in Japan, girls have to give their guy friends and acquaintances chocolates. I’ve been cutting coupons last night to buy baker’s chocolates for that very reason since I have to give some to Midorima and his team. Such a pain, really!”

“Why do you _have_ to give them anything?” Wakamatsu demanded. “Midorima is your rival and his teammates aren’t your senpais – what do they get giri-choco for?”

“It’s because Midorima gave me really helpful advice on basketball,” she said, scratching the back of her neck. “Sure, he straight up compared me to a flea afterwards; but advice is advice.” A snort. “Plus, I’m starting to think that Midorima has to be kinda hostile to me lest anyone thinks we’re associated.”

“Uh-huh.” Wakamatsu understood where she came from. Kinda. “And what advice did his team give you?”

“None. It’d just be weird if I show up to their gym with chocolates only for Midorima. God, they also just deserve something sweet for dealing with the guy’s eccentricities.” She gave him a friendly push. “We might be loud—”

“At least we don’t depend on horoscopes or skip practice,” he finished playfully. They laughed at the joke, and Wakamatsu made bold to swing an arm over her shoulders. Kagami was a mere three centimetres shorter than him – perfect height for one-on-ones and hugs that don’t break his back. “I’ve been meaning to ask: how do you celebrate Valentine’s Day in America?”

Kagami took a moment for pondering. “It was a big day at my school!” she said, squarely looking up at him. “We’d decorate our classrooms with paper hearts and cherubs; all of us had little cardboard boxes sorta hanging from the sides of our tables for people to leave cards in; and there was that flower charity thing!”

One minute. Two minutes. Five minutes. Wakamatsu waited for her to explain the flowers, instead she started asking questions about the café. What sort of cakes did they serve? What drinks? Did they have sandwiches?

“Are you hungry?” he cut in abruptly.

“I am,” she admitted shamelessly. “I spent last night looking up second-hand chocolate moulds and there were so many that I lost track of the hour. One thing led to another and I overslept and—”

“Didn’t have breakfast?”

“Didn’t have breakfast,” she sighed. “How much further do we have to walk?”

“I’d say fifteen more minutes? Ten if we pick up the pace.” He grabbed her arm a second before she sped up, pulling her to his side. “Now, tell me more about that flower charity you mentioned.”

“That’s what caught your attention?” She gaped at him in surprise. “It’s nothing extravagant. A teacher would set up a table in the main hallway manned by members of the student council. For the humble price of a dollar, you could write an anonymous Valentine’s Day message on small pieces of pink paper that would be sealed in a red envelope that would be sent to the recipient alongside a flower. One year we had carnations, another tulips.

“Some of the popular kids would receive more than ten! I think Tatsuya once got a whole bouquet’s worth of pink carnations! We’d plait them into crowns in our backyards.” Stretched her arms, Kagami took in a deep breath of cold air and rolled her shoulders. “He always got at least seven.”

“And how many did you get?”

Kagami stared at him and he reciprocated the gesture. Then she cast down her eyes, saying, “Three. Two if you exclude Tatsuya; the remainder were sent to me by girl friends.” _Ah._ Wakamatsu patted her back; poor comfort though it was, she accepted it and leaned against him. “Tatsuya and I are going to exchange cards this year,” she said, voice lightening as it sometimes did when she mentioned the guy. “Since neither of us can visit the other, we’ll send it via post!”

An idea popped into his head. Wakamatsu glanced at Kagami, who – having spotted the café– pulled him by the sleeve of his arm in want of warmth and food, and smiled upon seeing the little star pin sparkle above her brow. He had bought it for her on a whim after noticing that she kept batting at her fringe during their one-on-ones. He hadn’t expected her to like it so much, nor wear it regularly.

He was glad.

Coats hanged and hats stuffed into her bag, they were seated at the end of the café by the windows; Kagami refused to continue the conversation till after they’ve ordered drinks. For himself he got a cup of black tea while she chose hot chocolate since she can have tea at home anyway.

“Just so I have this right,” he said in-between the sips, “in America, guys and girls give each other flowers and cards on the same day, yeah?”

“Correct!” A thin chocolate moustache appeared on top of her lip, which she promptly licked. “I’m pretty sure White Day doesn’t exist outside of Japan.”

“I see, I see.” He handed her a tissue. “Completely unrelated, but did Himuro give you flowers outside of school?”

“He did! Mrs. Himuro told him it’s the gentlemanly thing to do, so when his parents left him at my place to go on a date or whatever, he would give me a rose.” Kagami reclined against the sofa and tapped her feet. “I’d like to receive a bouquet. Not necessarily roses since they have certain connotations, still it’d be nice to receive even a bunch of wildflowers. Los Angeles is drier than a bone, so they were a sought-after commodity!”

Wakamatsu rested an elbow on the table and considered something. “Hey, if everything is so dry there then I guess the news aren’t exaggerating about the fires?”

She groaned and rolled her eyes. “Don’t get me _started_ on our wildfires! Nowadays, we all expect half the state to be engulfed in flames for at least six months. When I was twelve the fires were so bad that the sky turned orange for two week – and I live nowhere near them!”

“Two weeks?!”

“I’m serious!” Kagami reached for her phone, and thus they started to extensively discuss natural disasters. The waiter bringing them their food obviously deemed it a strange topic, and Wakamatsu would’ve normally agreed with him had it not been so damn interesting. The subject was only beaten when he started to tell Kagami about how he once swam too far into the ocean and had to be retrieved by a very disgruntled lifeguard, to which the girl immediately said that that happened to her too.

The wheels of the conversation continued to turn, and by the end of it Wakamatsu was proud for having made her laugh all the while.

***

“What could they possibly be talking about?” demanded Aomine. “Why is she smiling so much?”

“Aomine-kun, please sit back down.”

As Kuroko tried to calm down the power forward, Kise watched keenly how Kagami polished off the many plates littered on the low table. Hamsters wish they could stuff as much food in their cheeks as she did, and it was an oddly endearing sight. Frosting smeared her face, and ice spread across his chest when that Wakamatsu guy reached out to wipe it off for her.

“Hey guys,” he started, “when did you start liking Kagami?” The one-sided bickering stopped, and his former schoolmates stared at him like he was an idiot. Kise frowned. “Aominecchi, you taunt her like it’s a national pastime. And don’t you like well-endowed girls anyway? Kagamicchi looks nothing like Mai-chan with whom you’re basically in love.”

“Kagami’s different,” said Aomine, annoyed. “Instead of focusing on me, why don’t you talk about yourself? There’s a parade of girls willing to date you and you reject them all to chase after a girl I like.” His eyes narrowed. “You aren’t pursuing her because of _that_ , right?”

“Of course not!”

That was when Kuroko piped in with, “I’m glad. It’s good to know you aren’t that petty, Kise-kun. Although,” he placed a finger on his chin, “I am curious to know why both of you like her that much.”

What a question! Kise can’t place a finger on when he started to like her that much; he only realised it when he overheard her flatly tell another girl that she didn’t see what the big deal was with him modelling. All she cared about – as she herself put it – was that he played basketball really well and was not as rude to her as some other players.

It was nice that she did not give him special treatment for being a model or a basketball miracle. Refreshing.

Aominecchi was silent as well. Then he shoved his hands into the pockets of his blue puffer jacket and said, “I don’t know. She made basketball fun again. No matter how many times I beat her, she instantly bares her teeth at me and challenges me ten more times. There’s no flattery or nervousness between us.”

“You can say that again,” added Kise. That was it. Kagami had never flattered him. If anything, she is so unimpressed by his good looks and modelling career that for so long gained him attention that whenever he did get praise from her, it felt all the more genuine. “I think they’re leaving the café now.”

Through the windows they say how Kagami chewed her lip as Wakamatsu casually handed a handsome sum of money to the waiter. It seemed like she tried to apologize for the undoubtedly high cost, and Wakamatsu in response shrugged it off and went to fetch their coats.

“I think I get it now,” said Kuroko suddenly.

“Get what now, exactly, Tetsu?”

“Kagami-san mentioned how she likes that Wakamatsu-kun treats her like a girl. I’ve been reflecting on her words this whole week, and honestly she’s right about that.”

Aomine pursed his lips. “We’re talking about Wakamatsu here,” he said. “The guy’s loud and obnoxious.”

“And he covered the bill,” stated Kuroko. “Now he’s helping her put on her coat. At school, Kagami-san showed me that he also bought her a small hair pin and apparently he often carries her bag when they’re heading to her house.” He paused, as if in self-reflection. “Have any of us done those things for her? I certainly haven’t since we’ve been too busy with school and club activities.”

“You spend a lot of time outside of school with her though,” said Aomine quietly. “But I see your point and—Kagami!”

Scarcely had they left the café than Aomine called out specifically for her. Kise smirked at the angry expression that immediately formed on Wakamatsu’s face – it was satisfying to see after watching him chat with Kagami for forty minutes. The latter pulled her friend towards them, smiling at Kuroko before giving all her attention to Aomine. “What do you want?” she asked.

“I was in the area,” he said. “Thought we might play some basketball.” A sly grin. “You’ve yet to regain your honour after our last one-on-one.”

It was difficult to ignore the fiery want that lit up on her face alongside the determination exuding from her whole body. Beside her, Wakamatsu folded his arms. “If you want to play basketball then you should come to practice, idiot!” he remarked. “And Kagami can’t play today.”

“Who are you to speak for her?”

Wakamatsu huffed and Kise bet he was going to bicker when Kagami raised a hand to halt him. Then she sighed. “He’s right,” she said with clear sadness. “I’m wearing thick leggings underneath my overalls and I’m going to sweat like a pig if we play. Even if I wasn’t, I can’t exactly throw hoops with you when I’m out with Wakamatsu.”

“Kagami-san,” said Kuroko, amused, “aren’t you forgetting something else?”

“Am I?” She snapped her fingers. “I am! Coach will kill me if I don’t let my knees rest!” said she, finger gun pointing at Aomine. “Don’t think I won’t beat you the next time we play!”

“If you were planning to play one-on-one with Kagami, then what are your friends doing here?” Wakamatsu looked and sounded as displeased with them as Kise was with his arm flung over Kagami’s shoulders.

“We just happened to bump into each other,” said Aomine flatly.

“Uh-huh.” Wakamatsu clicked his tongue. “Well, Kagami and I are going to go now.” As he said that, his hold on her tightened a bit and again Kise was envious how she did not mind the contact at all.

“One sec,” said Kagami, quickly turning from Wakamatsu to Kuroko, whom she asked, “we didn’t have any homework for Japanese History, yeah? The reading doesn’t count.”

Kuroko smiled. “You should really do the reading.”

“I know, I know, but besides that…?”

He chuckled. “No homework.”

“Okay, good!” She merrily saluted him. “I’ll see you on Monday then!”

With that, she and Wakamatsu – the latter eager to bounce – walked down the street, disappearing at the crossroads. Hands on his hips, Kise complained how she barely acknowledged him; he swiftly shut his mouth when he saw Aomine staring into the open air. “You good?” he asked.

“No. No, I’m not.” Blankness shifted to annoyance, and he kicked the bench. “Damn it! When I asked her out on a date, she brought Murasakibara and Himuro with her; when _he_ asks her out, she comes to him alone!”

“You asked her out?” exclaimed both Kise and Kuroko.

“I did!” Aomine fell onto the bench. “I wanted to take her to the arcade. Didn’t expect to see our hungry, hungry giant there munching on chips while Himuro greeted her with a hug. God, I’m so angry.” A pause, followed by him seizing Kuroko’s elbow. “You’ve a practice game next week with Shuutoku on Valentine’s Day.” Not a question.

“We do.” Kuroko fixed his scarf. “You’re going to come, aren’t you?”

Aomine nodded. A wispy cloud formed as he released a long breath; his eyes fixed themselves on Kise. “You ought to stop pursuing her now. Save yourself the embarrassment down the line.”

“Huh?” Kise laughed. “Aominecchi, this isn’t basketball. As far as I’m concerned, we are on equal ground when it comes to love! Why shouldn’t Kagamicchi like me better? Sans Kuroko, I’m the friendliest towards her and I helped her out twice despite being rivals!”

“I agree with Aomine-kun.”

“Kurokocchi!”

Kise was startled by the disaffected manner in which his dear friend rebuked him. The explanation that followed was a weak balm to the sore, yet he understood it better (while also hating it).

“You’re so popular with girls that by paying attention to her you’ll bring her troubles,” said Kuroko calmly. “Kagami-san does not have many friends at school outside of the club, subsequently there won’t be any congratulations from our female classmates when they pick up that you’re flirting with her; and Kagami-san’s obliviousness will hardly make it better.”

Aomine puffed up in triumph, which did not go unnoticed by them. Kise stomped his foot, chewed his lip, and puzzled over how to invite Kagami on a date without his fans realising it lest they badger her for information on him. Kuroko meanwhile arched a brow and added, “It’s probably counterproductive for me to give advice to my romantic rivals, so I say this as a friend: no girl is going to like you if all you do is mock and provoke her. A compliment from you would mean a lot, I’m sure.”

Much to their amusement, pink dusted Aomine’s cheeks and he told them to shut up while twisting in the opposite direction. “Complimenting her will make her twice as obnoxious, and then she won’t ever let me leave the court because she’s going to rile herself up.”

“And that’s not a good thing?” Kise asked.

“You’ll think differently when it’s pitch-black outside and she’s clinging to your arm for another game,” said Aomine, not even trying to hide the affection in his voice. “Whatever. I’m going home.”

“See you next week at Shuutoku,” said Kuroko.

“I’ll come as well!” exclaimed Kise. “I’d like to see Kagamicchi, and it’d be good to say hello to Midorimacchi too.”

“Fantastic,” sneered Aomine. He rubbed the space between his brows. “At least Wakamatsu isn’t going to be there – we’ve got that going for us.”


	7. Chapter 7

Kagami went to Maji Burgers several times a week with Kuroko. They had their table by the windows. Kuroko sat with his back to the door, drinking his vanilla milkshake, and she was across from him with her pile of twenty burgers. That was where they were this Tuesday evening, talking about the events of the day.

“Did you have a good time with Wakamatsu-kun?” asked Kuroko once she finished complaining about their maths teacher.

Her face brightened. “I did! I told him all about the California wildfires and how every summer the entire state is plunged into hell.” She took a big bite of her fourth burger. “Though running into Aomine annoyed him quite a bit. He grumbled about him when we were in the arcade. What about you? Did you have fun with Kise and Aomine?”

Kuroko nodded. “They want to come watch our practice game with Shuutoku this weekend.”

“Huh?” Kagami slumped her shoulders. “Then they’ll be expecting sweets as well, won’t they? I’ll have to adjust the recipe to include them.”

“I don’t think you have to give them giri-choco.”

“You yourself said that giri-choco is given to like every man you interact with out of politeness. Everyone’s getting chocolates from me so there won’t be any favouritism.”

Condiments stained the corners of her mouth, and she wiped them off with a creased napkin. Kuroko smiled. They were just the two of them at this table, the little star pin was absent from her hair, and Kagami helped herself to a sip of his milkshake with an apologetic grin ghosting on her lips. Gathering his courage, he took her hand in his – her fingers longer and more calloused than his – and said, “Kagami-san, would you like to go to the park with me tomorrow after school?”

Kagami met this quietly. She raised her hand, beckoning him to wait for her to finish chewing. Then she wiped her mouth again and smiled. “Sure! It’s been a while since we went to the park, hasn’t it? Should we invite our seniors as well—”

“I’d like it to be just the two of us, if you don’t mind.”

“That works, too!” Kagami devoured the sixth burger in three big chomps. “I’ll make us food. It’ll be cheaper that way.”

“Kagami-san, frugal people don’t buy twenty burgers.”

“Kuroko, don’t mock the cook.”

***

The trees were cold, stark, bare. A dreary setting for a merry outing. Kagami was glad that Kuroko didn’t insist on bringing Nigou with him; she’ll be able to relax and fully enjoy herself. Japanese winters were too cold. The winds had died down, but the weather forecast promised that they’d return tomorrow with a vengeance. Kuroko noticed her trembling shoulders through her puffer jacket, so he went to the nearby FamilyMart to buy them hot drinks.

She wished Seirin let girls wear trousers. It was unfair to expect them to wear leggings or stockings or pantyhose – those were not everyday items. Her whole childhood she ran around the neighbourhood clad in shorts and baggy shirts; dresses and skirts were for special occasions, or when her father desperately wanted her to sit still.

“I’m back.”

Kagami jolted a bit. She was getting better, but there was still some time till she fully adjusted to his faintness. “Welcome back,” she said, taking the cup of coffee.

They walked together deeper into the park. Spending time with Kuroko was as easy as dribbling. His presence was as faint as it was comfortable, and Kagami found it funny how when they first met, she was loath to be associated with him. Not once did she feel weird ruffling his hair and laughing at her own jokes while he made his flat remarks.

Benches peppered the park. They picked the one beneath a thick-trunked tree, and Kagami pulled out two bento boxes from her backpack: a small one for him and a big one for her. “Enjoy your meal!” she said happily.

“Thank you for the meal,” said Kuroko. He stared at the box for a bit, then he lifted his chin. “I don’t think you’ve cooked yakisoba before.”

“Oh, yeah, you know how I’ve been trying my hand at more and more Japanese dishes?”

“Mhm.”

“Well, Wakamatsu told me his favourite food is yakisoba and I got interested.” Kagami twisted the noodles into a pretty curl around her chopsticks. “I’ve gotten pretty good at it!” Kuroko hummed; it sounded sad somehow. She furrowed her brows and tried her best to look more serious, which was hard when her cheeks were round like a squirrel’s. “You alright?”

“I am.” He obviously was not. Then he asked, “Kagami-san, what kind of guys do you like?”

She choked on her coffee. Her hand shot into the backpack, searching for her handkerchief, and she was relieved that she managed to keep her mouth shut. “That came out of the blue, don’t you think?” An awkward laugh tremored through her chest. “You’re going to think me silly, but—” her cheeks reddened— “I really like – gosh this is embarrassing – I _really_ like elegant men.”

“Elegant?”

“Well,” she kept stifling her broad smiles, “have you ever seen any Western period dramas?” Kuroko shook his head. “I watched a lot of them with my dad while growing up, and there’s just something about polished, polite people. So, basically the opposite of me,” she finished, chuckling.

Kuroko stared at her flustered, pink face. So, that’s what Kagami liked: polished, polite guys. That was…unexpected. He would have guessed she would like brash, bold boys bursting with confidence. Curiosity sprang up in his mind. “Out of the Generation of Miracles, who’s most elegant in your opinion?”

“Midorima or Akashi.” She paused. “Although, now that he’s normal, I’d say Akashi is more elegant. Did you know he has a white horse?” She whistled. “Now _that’s_ something. Its name is Yukimaru; he said he’ll introduce me to it when I come visit his house.”

A shiver went down his spine. None of the Miracles ever came to the Akashi Houses, neither in Tokyo or in Kyoto; the fact that he’d let Kagami drop by said leagues about his fondness. Both of them were wealthy and raised by single fathers. But Kagami herself once went on a tangent how people like the Akashis usually looked down on folks like the Kagamis, describing her family as new money.

“What about you?” demanded Kagami. “What girls do you like? It doesn’t take a genius to see you’re not crazy for Momoi.”

Kuroko opened a pack of tissues. “I like gentle girls,” he said.

Kagami ohed knowingly. “There’s a girl in our class you might like,” she said suddenly. “Hasegawa Fusako. She sits on the very front row, the one with braids up to here…”

What. _What._ Kuroko subconsciously made himself smaller as his light went on about their classmate. The gentle person he had in mind was obviously Kagami. Sure, first impressions might leave people with the thought that she was tough as a callous. And she was. But once she had warmed up to him and became a true friend, constant and steadfast, her gentleness was hard to overlook. Hasegawa Fusako was a nice girl. She just wasn’t Kagami.

“…and Hasegawa plays the violin! You like classic literature; you’d go like bread and butter!” She clapped her hands. “We’re not exactly friends, though I could try giving her a few hints in your direction if you want.”

Kuroko closed his eyes. _Oh dear,_ he thought with amused frustration. “I’m not interested in Hasegawa-san.”

“You’ve never spoken to her,” she scolded.

He shrugged. “We’re busy with the basketball club, aren’t we? And besides, I like another.”

Kagami’s red eyes were rounder than coins and shone brighter. “So there is someone you like!” she exclaimed, hands slapped against her lap. “Who is it? Is she in our class, our school?”

“Yes.”

“Is it Kimura Ayaka? Ichikawa Eiko? Abe Mana?” The answer to each name was a resounded shake of the head that irritated Kagami. “Then tell me the name!”

“No,” said Kuroko, putting back on his gloves. “But I can tell you that she’s very tall and has short hair. Her best subject is English, worst is physics and Japanese history.”

A considering look camped on Kagami’s face. She tugged at her hat, covering her eyes as she chewed on her lip. Then smugness arose from her entire demeanour, and she – with absolute surety – said, “It’s Nakayama Miyuki, isn’t it?”

“ _Kagami-san._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First I'd like to thank all of you for the lovely comments so far!! They never fail to make my day and give me encouragement that people are enjoying the story! Second, how we feeling about KnB being put on Netflix? I'm excited to re-watch everything and perhaps will write more stories in the future >w<


	8. Chapter 8

Wakamatsu woke up bright and early on Saturday. He took a cold shower, dried and combed his shock of blond hair, dressed warmly, and carefully placed a pink postcard between the pages of a book to keep it neat. On his way to the kitchen, he encountered Katsuo – his younger brother – emerge from his room rubbing the sleep out his eye. When he saw him, however, Katsuo flashed an impish grin and followed him.

“Where are you heading this early on the weekend?” asked Katsuo, hovering around him. “Are you going to see Kagami-chan?”

“That’s _san_ to you,” said Wakamatsu, shoving his brother’s head to the side. The kid was in junior high and way too familiar with Kagami, who simply shrugged her shoulders and said she did not mind when she should’ve reprimanded him. So, he had to do it on her behalf. “Katsuo, why aren’t you sleeping?”

“Your blow-dryer woke me up.” Katsuo leaned against the wall. “And you didn’t tell me where you are going.” Then, when Wakamatsu ignored him and poured himself a bowl of cereal, he loomed over him. “Kousuke, Kousuke, Kousuke, Kousuke—”

“To the flower shop!”

Katsuo sprang back, wide-eyed. “You’re dating then!”

Wakamatsu shoved a spoonful of cereal into his mouth. “Shut up,” he snapped. “I haven’t properly asked her out yet.”

“But you will?”

He sighed. “Eventually.”

Katsuo sat across from him, arms folded and expression thoughtful. The morning sun fell between them, creating a golden boundary between the brothers. Songbirds sung beneath their window, and beside their melodies the only other sound was the crunch of cereal between Wakamatsu’s teeth. He stared at Katsuo; with that philosophical look the boy was bound to say something and the former wanted to hear it out to prevent a stream of texts later.

“What flowers will you buy?” Katsuo was serious, so serious that it was funny. “Not roses, right? You’re not dating yet so you can’t give her roses.”

“I’m not—” Wakamatsu let the spoon clink against the bowl. “Katsuo, I’m just going to get a pretty posy for her. It’s not a big deal.” He rose from the chair, placed the dishes into the sink, and walked past his brother. “Go change if you’re not going back to bed.”

“Wait, wait! I want to come with you! I’ve never bought flowers for anyone!”

Wakamatsu forced his feet into his shoes and shot his brother a glare. “Absolutely not.” He sized himself up in the hallway mirror. “It won’t be the same if the bouquet is a joint present from us. And,” he smirked, “don’t you have to study for entrance exams anyway? Touou isn’t an easy school to enrol, you know!”

“Well.” Katsuo slid into the hallway, socks smooth on the polished floor. “If you got in then I’ll power through the exams somehow.”

The elder brother rolled his eyes and ruffled the younger’s hair, and then they bid each other goodbye.

***

Kagami handed each of her teammates a small clear bag filled with chocolates. She’d spent last night toiling away in the kitchens, and annoyed as she was at the cost of the ingredients (chocolatiers sure knew how to jack up prices) the gratefulness exuding from her friends pleased her. Despite herself, Coach also accepted a bag of chocolates and muttered under her breath how Kagami will have to teach her this as well.

Shuutoku was a large school. Kagami walked beside Kuroko, taking in the campus at her own pace. The latter meanwhile had carefully untied the heart-shaped tag to keep as a token; she had signed it with her name and a cute smiley face.

“Hello, Seirin!” exclaimed Takao as soon as they entered the gym. To his left was Midorima, polishing his lucky item. “Excited for the practice game?”

“Of course!” Coach grinned, hands on hips, and shot her team an ominous look daring them to lose. “Where’s Coach Nakatani? I’d like to speak with him before we start.”

“Oh, he’s in the hallway. Just go through that door.”

Coach nodded firmly. As she walked away from them, Kagami busily shuffled in her sports bag and strayed from her team to their hosts. Takao heard crinkly noises and, curious, peeked into her bag. Then his slate-blue eyes widened.

“This is for you,” said Kagami, giving him a bag of sweets.

Unlike Seirin, whose giri-choco was heart-shaped with a nut filling, for Shuutoku she made square ones with a white chocolate drizzle. By the time she finished the eleven for her team, Kagami was tired and running short on almonds; thus, she improvised.

Takao took a moment to process the gift in his hand. “Thanks, Kagami!”

She gave him a thumbs-up, and then moved on to his seniors. The Shuutoku boys were obviously surprised by the sweets, though none refused the giri-choco. Otsubo grinned and thanked her profusely; Kimura and Miyaji were touched by the gesture; and Midorima…stared at her.

Though the disparity between their height was minute, Kagami felt every centimetre he had over her at that moment. She held chocolates, he a porcelain frog. A brick wall would have given her a bigger reaction than him. There were several explanations in her head for that:

  * Midorima might consider it inappropriate – they were not even classmates.
  * Maybe Oha Asa told him not to have candy that day.
  * Or he was not allowed to accept anything from Leos.



The final option upset her a bit – she worked hard on the giri-choco, after all – but Oha Asa held more authority than God to him. “It’s alright if you don’t want it,” she said, consciously not letting iciness bleed into her voice. “Should I give it to Takao then—”

Midorima snatched it, pushed up his glasses, and stepped past her. “Thank you,” he said quietly. Kagami uncurled her fingers and spun to look at him, scowling when the boy hid his face. His teammates laughed at him, though she herself found nothing funny.

But before she could pester the truth out of them or ask Kuroko to clear things up for her, both coaches returned into the gym proper and yelled at them to get ready. Distractions fled from Kagami’s mind; she grinned and took off the outer uniform – she wore the jersey and shorts underneath it – then pinned her fringe with the star pin.

The whistle blew, up flew the ball, and Kagami jumped.

***

Sweaty was what she was. And Coach scolded her whenever she wiped her face with the hem of her shirt. So what if the guys saw her stomach? Kagami wore a black sports bra underneath; there was no chance of them seeing anything inappropriate.

“Kagami,” said Takao to her afterwards, “quick question: have you always jumped so high?”

“I think?” Kagami sat on her haunches, breathing hard. “I can walk on my hands.”

“How is that related to jumping?”

“Don’t know. But there’s your fun fact about me for the day.”

Takao blinked. Then he burst out laughing and playfully patted her back. He had lost it when he realised whom Shin-chan held in his heart. Kagami was not the sort of girl he’d expect to catch his friend’s fancy, yet he could not complain. If there was anyone who could loosen him up a bit then it would be her.

It was such a shame that his friend was so cold towards her. Outside of basketball, he would purse his lips shut and give her the cold shoulder. Honestly, it’d be a miracle if the girl did NOT believe herself disliked by him. And judging by the giri-choco, that was the truth!

“Have you any plans tonight?” he asked. They walked to the locker room, and he had a minute before she disappeared to the girls’ room. His question earned him an angry glare from Shin-chan and, interestingly, an equally bothered one from Kuroko.

Kagami hummed and said, “I’m going to order myself food!” She sounded determined. “After yesterday’s efforts, I don’t want to cook or bake or do anything in the kitchen.” As if on cue, her stomach rumbled. She sighed. “I’m hungry.”

With that, she turned and went into the girls’ locker room.

In the hallway, Takao doubled over himself because Midorima jabbed him on the side. _Hard._

Kagami whipped out a pack of wet wipes from her bag and began to clean herself of the sweat. There were showers here – Shuutoku had nice facilities, if older than Kaijo’s – but nothing could compel her to take one when it was February outside. She already decided that at home she’ll take a hot bath and order some food and slap on _Toy Story_ on tv.

There were two baggies of chocolate left in her bag for Kise and Aomine respectively. Kuroko had told her that they would drop by on the practice game, though she was yet to see them. _Maybe they’re with the boys,_ she concluded while packing. Kagami texted her coach that she would wait for them outside, not wanting to run into the girls at Shuutoku. Some of her junior high classmates attended the school, after all.

The late morning sun was pale in the sky. Kagami pulled on a pair of gloves, pacing to and fro in an attempt to keep herself warm. She was still hot from the game and she intended to maintain the heat as long as she possibly could before the chill could set in her bones.

Someone close by unzipped his jacket, shoved the boy next to him who copied his motions, and in three long strides approached Kagami. Her shivering shoulders stilled once a thick puffer jacket shrouded her like a cloak. Immediately she assumed it was either Mitobe or Kiyoshi, who in the past had given her their gloves or hats when her misery reached a breaking point.

Smiling, she pulled it tighter around her and went about to thank her senior when the words died on her tongue. Kagami gasped and hopped back a step, mouth gaping and brows knitted together like a sweater. “Aomine?”

He smirked. “What’s up, Kagami?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found the most adorable picrew where I decided to make a little Kagami! Here's a rendition of it if you're curious >w<:  
> https://share-cdn.picrew.me/shareImg/org/202101/597356_UUv7hgBH.png
> 
> Besides that, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter; and if you did then please leave a comment! I may not respond to them, but they warm my heart and heighten my enthusiasm for this story!! :D


	9. Chapter 9

The flustered, indignant expression on her face was familiar to Aomine. It mirrored the look she gave him when he arrived late to a game, flung his arm around her shoulders, and dared her to entertain him with her play. Her split brows pointed inwards, and the sunlight which brought out the copper in her hair deepened the contrast. Normally Aomine would complain that dual-coloured tresses were unnatural, though having a blue head himself gave him no such right.

“You’re late,” she said sternly. “The game’s finished.”

“Well, I don’t particularly care.”

“You don’t?”

He shook his head. “I came here to see you.”

Pink confusion dusted her cheeks. She stared at him, mouth slightly agape, and then shoved her hand into the messenger bag from which she pulled out a small plastic bag filled with chocolates. “Here,” she shoved it into his hand. “Kuroko said that girls have to give chocolates to guys on Valentine’s Day.”

“Kagamicchi!”

Kise threw his arms around her, forehead pressed against her the crook of her neck. Aomine had shamelessly pushed him out of his way seconds earlier to greet the girl first, and he felt a terrible green monster wake up in his gut at how Kagami raised her brows and patted the blond in a friendly manner. “I made some for you as well, Kise,” she said.

“Did you make them yourself?” he asked.

“I did! Bought baking chocolate and moulds – it was fun making them.” She laughed. “I hope they’re as nice as the stuff you got from your classmates. I haven’t really made chocolates before so I hope you will like the taste.”

“Let’s try it out now!” Kise pulled the ribbon and popped a piece into his mouth. Then he gave her a thumbs up and she smiled widely.

Aomine frowned. Kise always was a social creature. No one at Teikou spoke as well as him – there were reasons outside his good looks that won him the attention of girls. “Kagami,” he said, pulling her out of the embrace, “you got any plans today?”

“Yeah, I’m going to go home and watch movies. Why?”

“Do you want to—”

The doors opened again and out came the rest of the throng. Midorima’s displeasure struck Aomine the fastest, followed by the amused smiles on his team and the curious glances on Seirin.

Kagami was impervious. “Do I want to what?”

He blinked and remembered himself. “Can I come over?”

“Why?” She sounded suspicious. “If you think I’ll cook chicken karaage for you then you’re sorely mistaken.”

“No, I just want to hang out,” he said, voice low and defensive. Kagami had started inviting him to her place every now and then – usually after their one-on-ones – and sometimes (well, most of the time) she fed him with her own meals. “And why are you complaining about that?” he demanded. “I buy the produce for you, don’t I?”

“Well—” she huffed. “I had to show you _how_ to buy the correct produce first.”

“Touché.”

“Kagami-san,” said her coach, “are you going to go home now then?”

She turned her back to him and nodded. Aomine hovered around her as she promised her coach to not abuse her knees over the weekend. To his great chagrin, his former schoolmates seemed determined to walk her home as well. Shuutoku already dispersed after clapping Midorima on the back with satisfied grins and winks galore while Kuroko already attached himself to Kagami’s side; Kise came here with him and by god he will not leave them.

Left alone with four members of the Generation of Miracles, Kagami let out a deep breath, spun around, and guided them to her house.

***

They were ridiculous a group.

Kagami stood outside the convenience store with Midorima of all people. The other three unwanted companions had volunteered to buy groceries. It was strange to be in their company with no prospect of sports in sight. She had forced Aomine to text Momoi an invitation to her house – her father was lenient, but even he would be unnerved by the presence of four boys in his house alone with his only daughter.

“So,” she said, hoping to break the silence, “how’s school?”

“It’s fine.”

She nodded. “You played well today. Do you think you could teach me how to shoot three-pointers better?”

At that Midorima regarded her long and hard. His expression was serious as ever, though to her surprise there was almost an admiration in them. “No,” he said eventually. “Three-pointers aren’t as easy as you habitual dunkers imagine; and besides, it’s not your style.”

“Oh?” Kagami cocked her head to the side, hands shoved in her pockets and torso tilted forwards. “And what do you think my style is?”

“You’re much better suited to jumping.” He pushed his glasses up with the index finger.

“And that’s it?”

Midorima winced at the hint of disappointment. Both of them were not what anyone might call ‘easy-to-get’ as she was dense to flirtations and he allergic to them. Had Midorima possessed the steady confidence of young men like Kise, he might’ve told Kagami that the higher she jumped, the more it seemed to him that one day she will sprout beautiful white wings on her back and fly heavenwards. Shooting three-pointers kept players firmly on their two feet, close to the ground. Girls like her were made for the skies, not the earth, and also, he already helped her plenty. First, he had shown her greatest flaws followed then he had given her his lucky pencil. A line must be drawn!

Had Midorima said everything in his head, his reward would have been flattered laughter with the strong chance of her playfully bumping his shoulder. She might have blushed too, and they all knew what a pretty sight it was.

It was unfortunate that he kept quiet.

Kagami cast her attention down to her shoes. Perfectly ignorant of his inner thoughts, she wondered why exactly he seemed to dislike her. Surely, he could not outright hate her since he accepted the chocolates and insisted to stay with her outside the shop. Still, he was an annoying mystery to her.

“I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable with the chocolates,” she said.

Midorima raised his brows in surprise. “Why do you say that?”

She huffed. “Because when I handed them to you, you stared at them for so long and with such _contempt_ that I thought maybe it was offensive.” Scuffing her shoes, she leaned against the metal railing behind them and watched Kise and Aomine argue through the window glass. “I get that I’m not an easy person but sheesh cut me some slack, would you? I’m still learning about Japan and—” she flailed her hand around, which was her way of saying ‘life’.

He stared at her. “Kagami, do you think I dislike you?”

“Well, not exactly dislike but eh—”

“I like you,” cut in Midorima.

She instantly met his eyes with an intense glare; their crimson colour burning bright beneath the harsh blue light of the neon store sign. “What?” she demanded.

Blood rushed to his face, though unsteady confidence coursed his veins. “I like you,” he said again, wanting to make sure he got the point across. “You’re difficult, loud, and don’t study at all—”

“Gee, thanks.”

“—but you’re good at basketball.” He shot her a reprimanding glance for the interruption. “And, truthfully, I’m not exactly an easy person myself. That didn’t stop you from loaning me your used NBA tickets on the day that I needed them.”

Kagami smirked and bumped his shoulder. “I told you it was no big deal. Your pencil helped me out and honestly I trust you to handle those tickets with care.” She pushed herself onto her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, “Don’t reveal their existence to neither Kise nor Aomine; I don’t want them spamming my notifications for them.”

Her chuckles eased his unravelling nerves. No sooner had he said that he liked her than Midorima wanted to ring up Takao to go home this very instant, though her pleasant reaction was a balm to his beating heart. And beat it did, ferociously like a wild bird trapped in a cage.

“Midorima, you’re so red!” she said suddenly, placing a gloved hand along the curve of his cheek. “It must be the damn cold! Why are the others taking so long? How hard can it be to buy groceries?”

“Let them take their time,” he said, revelling in the warm touch and her concern. “If your rush them then they’ll forget half the things on their list. And maybe we’ll end up running into Momoi on our way to your house.”

Kagami looked unconvinced. “You know Kise and Aomine better than I do so I suppose you’re right,” she conceded reluctantly. Then, blinking, she stiffened and jaggedly removed her hand. “Excuse me.”

Midorima, blushing deeply, tried to wave his hand nonchalantly. “It’s fine.” He inhaled a deep breath. “How’s school for you?”

“Good, good.” Kagami, shivering and trembling in the cold breeze, moved closer to him. “I actually scored a little higher on my math test.”

He nodded in approval. “That’s great.”

“Thanks,” said she with a small, proud smile.

***

Momoi had indeed met them at the entrance of the apartment block. Pink from the top of her clever head to the tip of her flat shoes, her presence was a promise of relative control of the boys. Definitely Aomine would listen to her at least a little bit.

“Kagamin!” she ran up to her and hugged her. Then she repeated the greeting to Kuroko. An amused gleam sparkled in her eye at how three of the young men carried heavy bags of groceries like obedient beasts of burden.

They scowled at her.

Warm air hit them as they entered the luxury building. Each member of the party had already visited Kagami’s abode before on Kuroko’s birthday. The latter and Aomine were the most frequent visitors, then came Momoi, and then – with single visits to their names – were Midorima and Kise.

Up they went to the top floor, and inside the elevator Momoi cheerfully quipped how charming Kagamin had to be to have four boys at her beck and call. In response, the taller girl praised them all for their gentlemanliness.

The compliment was a cause of quiet celebration to them! Until, of course, they strode down the hall and saw laying outside the apartment door a bouquet of white and yellow flowers prettily tied with a cream ribbon. Underneath the posy was a pink card on the face of which was a cute black cat, smiling and green-eyed, holding a heart in its little paws; the other side bore a simple congratulatory message written with a glittery gel pen.

“Who’s it from?” asked Kuroko, trying to peek over her shoulder.

Midorima, Kise, and especially Aomine saw the identity of this secret admirer. “Wakamatsu, huh?” said the latter, already adding ‘kick the bastard’ to his agenda for next week.

“Why would he get you flowers and a card?” Momoi was genuinely curious. Wakamatsu never struck her as the romantic type.

Kagami started with a jolt. “Oh, I told him how I always wanted to receive a bouquet of flowers from a boy who isn’t Tatsuya.” She blushed, and a warmth bloomed in her chest. “I didn’t expect him to remember that – it was embarrassing to admit.”

“But you admitted it nonetheless,” said Kuroko flatly.

“I did.” She pulled off her hat and went to push the key into the lock. “We shouldn’t loiter about in the hallway.”

They entered the grand flat with an air of embarrassment on Kagami’s part and wrathful indignation on the boys. Momoi pressed a finger to her lips to stifle the chuckle threatening to escape; boys really were stupid. All of them had more in common with their split-browed object of affection _and_ they had the inherent romantics of a rivalry going for them; so, if they lost her to Wakamatsu – who was startlingly apt at wooing Kagamin – then it was their fault alone.


	10. Chapter 10

Fed and watered, Kagami warmed considerably to her guests. They sat on the floor in the living room, drinking tea at her glass coffee table. She had changed into house clothes, which in February meant sweatpants, two pairs of socks, an old printed T-shirt, and a knitted cardigan – comfort took precedence over style. The hot tea heated her long fingers; she drank the most and the fastest.

“Do you not,” started Midorima, watching her pour herself a fifth cup, “have a kotatsu?”

“I’ve never used one actually.”

“What!” Momoi leaned close. “Never? In your entire life?”

Kagami nodded. “They’re hard to find outside of Japan. Besides, back home we have central heating.” She looked at Midorima, at his empty cup. “I’ll go heat more water. Do any of you want cookies? I should have some in my cupboard.”

Momoi joined her in the kitchen, wanting to ask her about recipes. The boys, left by themselves at the table, first avoided glancing at each other. Then Kagami burst out laughing at a very ill-advised cooking tip Momoi had read in a magazine. Four pairs of eyes stared at her shaking shoulders, her straight white teeth, and fondness was apparent in each set.

“Don’t laugh.” Momoi folded her arms. “It’s not my fault that I’m not the best cook out there – I am trying.”

“Satsuki, your dishes can be used as weapons of mass destruction,” said Aomine to the universal agreement of the table. “You gave me food poisoning with those cupcakes back in Teikou, remember?”

“I said I was sorry!” Momoi grumbled and turned her face away from them all. “How did you learn how to cook, Kagami-san?”

Kagami set the kettle to boil. Moving between the counter and table, she set a plate of biscuits and a dish of honey for her guests. “My dad taught me. We learned together, technically speaking. Plus, none of you saw me experiment in the kitchen! Momoi, just ask Wakamatsu and he might tell you how _sad_ my first attempt at yakisoba was.” She blushed. “God, it’s embarrassing to even think about it.”

Pouncing at the chance in front of her, Momoi said, “Speaking of Wakamatsu, what do you think of him?”

“What?”

Kagami was genuinely confused by the question. She lifted the hot kettle and made for the table, gathering the cups in want of a refill. Startled as she was by Momoi, she missed the most interesting expression on her friends’ faces.

“Well, he gave you flowers and a card for a reason, didn’t he?” Momoi, sitting between Aomine and Midorima, rested her chin against the palm of her hand. “There has to be something between you for him to do that.”

“Yes, that something is called friendship,” answered Kagami honestly. “It is very flattering, but I’m sure there’s nothing else he meant by it besides making me happy – I did repeatedly tell him how nice it would be to get flowers.” Her eyes strayed from the colourful heads of her friends to the colourful petals of the posy which were now happily settled in a clear vase upon a shelf. “Wakamatsu is such a good guy,” she said quietly. Then the sweet voice steeled and she glared at Aomine. “I wish you’d be nicer to him. Don’t think I don’t know when you skip practice to look at those half-naked models! Keep that up and I’m going to drag your ‘the only one who can beat me’ ass through the mud at the next Winter Cup!”

Aomine opened his mouth to retort, but Kise – who just knew that once they started bickering it’d take hours to stop – said, “What would you rather he be like, Kagamicchi? If Aominecchi doesn’t say that at least five times at the Tournament then he will die!”

They burst out laughing. Oh boy, did they laugh! Even Midorima cracked a smile, and Kuroko bit his lips to not agitate Aomine further, whose face coloured a deep red. Momoi, however, with her cool head and quick wit made sure to not let Kise’s question disappear.

“I just—it just baffles me that him and Midorima went to same school together,” she said.

“Kagamin, you have to elaborate,” insisted Momoi, keenly aware that both men had stiffened next to her.

“Uh, it’s, well, how should I put it?” Kagami rubbed the nape of her neck, brows furrowed. Then she slowly began, “Midorima, he was—” she gestured at him— “you were just a weird guy when I first met you. A weird guy obsessed with horoscopes and destiny and lucky items. Excluding that though, you’re rather serious. Uptight even.

“Not that that’s bad a thing!” she added quickly, as if afraid of upsetting him. “We don’t get along all that great, I know, but you always speak politely to your seniors (even if what you say is pretentious) and Takao told me you never skip practice. You have good grades.” She smiled and chuckled drily. “You helped me with _mine_. Kuroko here spent an hour explaining to me what you got through my head in thirty minutes – that’s amazing!”

Midorima flushed at the heaping compliments. The earlier treatment Kagami had shown him outside the store still tugged at his heartstrings, and now she decided to make it ache! He could only hope that his cheeks were not red as there were no excuses of cold weather inside the flat. He thought what to say to Kagami as to not be rude when a shiver ran down his spine at the chill stares shot at him by his former schoolmates.

“You get along well with your seniors too, don’t you, Kise?” asked Kagami, adding honey into his cup. “Though Kasamatsu hits you a lot.”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t really have other alternatives,” said Kise, grateful for the attention. He could not help feeling that whenever the others were around, Kagami ignored him a bit. “Girls flock to the gym whenever they hear that I’ll be playing. It’s distracting.”

“Kasamatsu’s annoyed, I get it, but it must be twice as hard for your girlfriend.”

“Eh?” Kise dropped his hand against the glass. “I have a girlfriend? Since when?”

Kagami raised a brow and shot Kuroko a glance saying, ‘Can you believe this guy?’ In response to this he quietly said that the blond really did not have a girlfriend. “That can’t be true,” she argued. “Ichikawa Eiko boasts how her friend at Kaijo is dating you. I think she said her name was Yabuki Hana?”

“ _Ah._ ” Kise knew exactly to whom she referred. Yabuki was a girl in his class – sweet and petite and sly – who shamelessly told her friends that they had chemistry for clout. It was basically a repeat of the Teikou situation, though this time it had reached Kagami’s ears. He ran a hand through his blond tresses, annoyed. “She’s not my girlfriend. We barely talk.”

“You are going to clear the situation, right?” asked Midorima.

“Eh, it doesn’t really matter. Ichikawa’s going to keep saying that till she gets herself a real boyfriend.”

“Or if you actually start dating her,” added Kuroko. “She must really like you to spin this web of lie.”

“Ki-chan has always been a charmer,” said Momoi, smirking.

Kise did not appreciate the smugness painted on their faces. They were perfectly aware of his dislike of excessive female attention. It was nice to have a fawning flock of girls – he was not going to deny that – but ironically. it made dating difficult and he could not just leave his house dressed regularly lest their keen eyes watched him.

And what Kuroko had told him made him regret his popularity even more. He did not want to Kagamicchi to be caught in the crossfires between himself and his fans.

“It must suck.” Kagami looked at him with compassion. “Tatsuya has girls following him around too – I never liked them. Whenever we’d try to play basketball at our local court and they’d manifest by the gate, stalling him from the game and whatnot.” She leaned against Kuroko, but her attention was fixed on him. “You should try to spook them. That’s what I did when I first started Seirin, and if it weren’t for him,” she bumped her shadow’s shoulder, “I bet I would have succeeded in being a pretentious loner.”

She snickered and kept digging her elbow into Kuroko’s side. Though she seemed to already have forgotten what she had said, busy as she was with teasing her classmate, the onlookers shared concerned expressions. Then Kise said:

“You wanted to be a loner? But you’re always down for hanging out and playing basketball!”

“Oh, not in middle school!” Kagami ruffled Kuroko’s hair and continued, “I’d rather not talk about too much, though suffice to say that I made my dad’s life harder than it had to be. Poor man was also adapting to life in Japan and the last thing he needed was an angry fourteen-year-old girl making snarky comments at every turn. But,” she sighed, “I wanted to go back to L.A. so badly, _but_ I also had my reasons for _not_ wanting to go home.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” said Aomine flatly.

“To you it doesn’t,” she returned. “The past is the past anyway and—”

A funky ringtone cut her off. Kagami sprang to her feet and grabbed her phone from the counter. Spreading across her face was a dazzling smile, and for a moment Kuroko thought her father had called her.

He was sorely wrong. And everyone sans Momoi felt sick when she said, “Um, it’s Wakamatsu. I should answer him – to thank him for the flowers – so help yourself to the cookies and the chips in the cupboard. I won’t take long.”

And then, a little flustered, she disappeared into her bedroom.

Standing up, Aomine slapped his knees and said, “I’m off eavesdropping.”

“Dai-chan!”

“She’s talking to Wakamatsu and you expect me to just sit here?” Aomine scoffed. “Unbelievable.” He paused. “Who’s coming with me?”

They all followed him to the hallway.

***

Wakamatsu laid on his bed, door locked shut to prevent his annoying little brother from barging in and yelling, “Kagami-chan, you’ll never believe what happened today!” before telling her the most mundane story in the world. Katsuo had the decency to embellish it a bit, though they really were just boring old stories.

“Did you like the flowers?” he asked, leg raised and ankle twisting.

“They’re lovely! I’ve put them in a vase as soon as I came home; the ribbon is tied around it.” He could practically hear her smile. “Is there a reason why you chose yellow and white?”

“I thought they looked like sunshine in a bouquet,” he said. “I know spring is only a few weeks away, but don’t think I haven’t noticed you slowly prepare yourself for hot weather. Honestly, you’re so excited for the summer that you’re completely ignoring cherry blossom season.”

Kagami jumped at how while cherry blossoms were nice and all, nothing compared to the warm sand under her feet or the sun beating at her back. Listening to her speak, Wakamatsu flipped onto his stomach and looked at the sheet of paper the lady at the shop had given him. She was extraordinarily helpful, and once she learned for whom he bought the bouquet she scribbled him the meaning of the flowers. In neat script, there was:

_Peonies – Compassion, bashfulness; white roses – innocence, purity, secrecy, ‘I am worthy of you’; good luck, young man!_

“You know,” she said suddenly in a heightened tone, “Aomine and Kise came to my practice game today. They then wriggled their way into my flat alongside Kuroko and Midorima.”

Wakamatsu disliked the sound of that. “Will your dad be fine with four boys at the house?”

“Momoi’s here too so it’s fine.” She paused. “Listen, do you think you could come over to my house next week? Wednesday maybe?”

“Let me check my calendar,” he said. “Was there something you wanted?”

“Well,” he heard her sit down on the bed, “I want to thank you for the flowers. I’ve made everyone chocolates and none of them gave me flowers; and like I know I have to wait for White Day to get something, but I don’t know if anyone but Tatsuya will reciprocate the gesture.”

“Won’t Kuroko get you anything?”

“It’s not like there’s a guy version of giri-choco,” she said with a laugh. “I’m sure if there was then he would get me some though.”

“There actually is,” he said. “And everyone to whom you gave chocolates today should reciprocate on the fourteenth of March.”

“Oh! I didn’t know that!” The bed beneath her creaked as she presumably sat up sharply. “I hope I get bars of milk chocolate. I can break them into pieces and bake something.”

“Ask Kuroko for them.”

“Won’t it be rude? No, I trust him to know what I like. Kuroko likes to people-watch as a hobby, so I’ve a month to subtly hint at what I want for White Day.”

Not an unreasonable plan since that guy was always shadowing Kagami. For a couple of weeks, he was under the impression that they were dating and the sheer flood of _relief_ that washed over him when she said that Kuroko was her best friend (not a boyfriend!) was unbelievable. Wakamatsu imagined that that was to him what a shot of heroin was to a junkie.

“Anyway,” she continued, “come to my house on Wednesday. I’ll make you a cake. We can have tea and watch a movie. My dad told me to check out _Train to Busan_ and I can’t watch horror films by myself.” She had said everything so quickly that it took him a minute to process it. Her soft breathing let him know she was still on the line. Before he could answer though, she quickly added, “You can bring Katsuo if you’d like. I don’t mind it when he tags along, and it’s not like you can tell your parents ‘no’ when they ask you to keep an eye on him.”

“ _I_ mind it when he comes,” he said just as quickly. On one hand, he was delighted that Kagami got on so well with his younger brother; on the other, Katsuo was an annoying little bastard who kept using -chan when addressing her. Flipping through his table calendar, Wakamatsu cringed when he saw that that week was entirely filled with basketball practice and other school stuff. “Bad news, Kagami: I’m busy this week.”

“…Oh,” she said, and her voice was so disappointed that it made him regret joining the disciplinary committee. “Can you come see me the week after that then?”

Wakamatsu saw in his mind’s eye how she sat at the foot of her bed, wearing those forest green sweatpants that were too short for her and two layers of socks. He’d been at her house often – almost every other week actually – but for the first time his throat dried a little as he really thought how best to answer her. “Of course, I can,” he said, quietly adding to his calendar to not let himself dilly-dally at the committee meeting. “Let’s say next, next Thursday?”

“I have practice then,” said Kagami, sounding unusually miserable at the prospect of basketball. “And you have yours on Fridays.”

“Then I’ll come on Saturday.” He took a deep breath. “We can make a day out of it! I’ll take you to Yoyogi Park again. You liked it there, didn’t you?”

She laughed. “Are you sure Katsuo won’t follow us there? He likes that place more than I do!”

“I promise he won’t come.” And Wakamatsu meant it. He’ll sneak out of the house early so his mother could have no opportunity to bind him to his brother. “What do you say?”

“I’d like that.” She chuckled warmly. “I’ll bring us a thermos of tea.”

“And I’ll meet you at your house at eleven o’clock?”

“Mhm.” A pause. “Thank you again for the flowers and card, Wakamatsu. I should get back to the living room – I don’t trust Momoi alone next to my kitchen equipment and, bless her, she likes to poke around there when I’m not looking. Happy Valentine’s Day!”

“Happy Valentine’s Day to you too, Kagami.”

The conversation ended. Wakamatsu haphazardly let the phone slide from his hand. Sitting at his table, he sighed before a grin split his face. She liked the flowers! She liked the card! Perhaps she would soon like him as more than a friend!

Although Imayoshi, whose ability to read people was frighteningly accurate, had advised him to be slow in his advances since (he thought) Kagami was the sort of person who saw all but the most blatant flirtations as simple friendliness, Wakamatsu did not mean to dawdle. How could he in the presence of such a girl? He was loud, true, but no idiot. You’d have to be blind to not suspect that other guys would like to date her very much. _And if Aomine and his Teikou friends set their attentions on her…_

Wakamatsu shook his head. Aomine liked girls that looked like gravure models. He teased and mocked Kagami incessantly, and honestly from what he heard the rest of the Miracles weren’t that much better. Kise had his throng of fans, Midorima had his Oha-Asa, Kagami assured him that Kuroko was not her boyfriend, and the other two were far away in Kyoto and Akita.

Smiling, he picked up his phone and tapped on the photo album on his phone. There in one of the folders was a picture he’d taken of Kagami from one of their earlier ventures to Yoyogi Park. She was smiling and waving at the camera, basketball between her torso and left arm and a can of coke in her right hand.

Would that he could admire the picture longer, but there was banging on his bedroom door.

“Kousuke!” yelled Katsuo. “Did you ask her out yet?”

“Don’t be nosy!” he shouted back. Then he scowled when the door handle started to rattle wildly. “If you break it, Mom will shave you bald!”

Wakamatsu wasn’t the only one in that house with guts, and so Katsuo continued to shake the handle like his life depended upon it. The former got up from his chair, swung the door open, and caught his brother in his arms. Almost immediately the interrogation began, something that the guests of a very nice flat several blocks north of the Wakamatsu household would have very much liked to have conducted on their hostess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the lovely comments!! Seeing them makes me so happy, especially those who say they are now rooting for Wakamatsu (we are all rooting for him tbh)! 
> 
> I think I ought to make known my feelings on Kagami and dating. Personally, I don't see him as someone who's particularly interested in dating - in the anime I'm pretty sure he is one of the few guys (and certainly the only on Seirin) who is completely disinterested in getting a gf - and is more preoccupied in his own world of friends and basketball. You'll have to bang pots and pans together to give him a clue and even that's not a guarantee. 
> 
> I try to keep fem! Kagami as close as possible to canon, but obviously she is a bit affected since Wakamatsu here is paying her all this attention and now he got her flowers, etc. 
> 
> Thank you again for the comments! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter just as much >w<


	11. Chapter 11

Monday afternoon found Aomine eating lunch with his basketball team. Imayoshi and Susa spoke quietly between each other with Sakurai listening closely; Momoi chatted beside him, not minding the lack of response.

Wakamatsu joined them shortly after buying himself a sandwich from the cafeteria. He had a stupid grin on his face that Imayoshi asked him about it. “I’ve two weeks to prepare,” he said happily. “I’m just thinking how to go about it.”

“Prepare for what?” said Imayoshi with a tilt of the head.

The grin broadened and, with true delight coating each word, Wakamatsu said, “I’m going to ask Kagami to be my girlfriend. Now I know—” he jumped when the captain opened his mouth, “—I know that you said I should take it slow, but I don’t want to sit around idly. I like her. She likes me. I think. Why wait?”

Staring at him, the basketball club was surprised not by his intentions but by his confidence and reasoning. “You sound so determined that I won’t contradict you at all,” said Imayoshi, rubbing his nape.

“Wakamatsu-kun got her flowers for Valentine’s Day,” added Momoi cheerfully. “Kagamin liked them so much she told me she might plait them into a crown that she could wear around the house.”

Blood rushed to both Wakamatsu’s and Aomine’s cheeks, albeit for fundamentally different reasons. The former felt as if his heart would burst for joy while the latter was sick with envy.

A conversation he had with Kagami echoed in Aomine’s head. By some good fortune, Aomine had been left alone with her on the balcony that evening. The rest had gone home earlier and, as Satsuki and he commuted together, he had an excuse to linger in the flat. She had winked at him as Kagami saw everyone to the door before disappearing into the bathroom to try wash out the juice stains on her shirt from when she begged the taller girl to show her how to use the blender properly.

Aomine had put on his blue puffer jacket. Beside him, Kagami wore a hanten and gloves over her long fingers. He had seen a transparent mist surround her whenever she blowed at her hands, and her cheeks gradually reddened from the chill.

What she had told him over the table had stuck with him. _I wish you’d be nicer to him._ Aomine had wondered how she reacted to the stories which Wakamatsu told her, wondered if she was really upset by them. Stealing a look at her, he had smiled at how she fidgeted on the spot in a paltry attempt to stay warm. She had noticed his attention and stiffened. “What?”

“Can you tell me exactly what Wakamatsu tells you about me?”

Whatever Kagami expected him to say, her widened gaze said it was not that. “Oh, nothing besides that you skip practice to go sleep on the rooftop and look at…those magazines,” she had told him with distaste. “You kicked him in the gut once, too, I heard. But that was before you were schooled by my team.” She smiled sadly. “I get not using honorifics – honestly I think it’s a bit silly that just because our seniors were born a year or two earlier, they give themselves airs – but kicking Wakamatsu is a bit much. He just wants you to practice, is all. No matter how good you are, if you don’t start behaving then you will be thrown off the team.”

Aomine had snorted. No way that that was going to happen. He had thrown his arm over her shoulders (he always wanted to do that without prying eyes) and jauntily asked, “Could it be that you’re worried about me? You sound just like Satsuki!”

Kagami had pushed him off her and shut her eyes in exasperation. “You’re so ridiculous,” she had said sternly. Then, shutting him up immediately, she had added, “Of course, I’m worried. I’m tempted to ask that pushover boy on your team to drive you around like Takao does Midorima if that’s what it takes to boost your attendance.”

Although she had continued talking – questioning how ethical it’d be to do that – Aomine wanted nothing more than to pull her into a tight embrace. She was too good, too tolerant of everyone’s antics. Hell, he had been responsible for elongating her injury once and she did not hold it against him. Neither did she dislike Akashi for nearly stabbing her (even though she had every right to detest him for it).

“Kagami,” he had said once she finished. “What do you think of me?”

“Eh?” She had gawked at him as if he had grown a second head. “Why do you ask?”

“I just want to know. You’re friends with Kuroko and Kise, even with Midorima you can be patient; yet we don’t really talk outside of basketball, do we? And when we do, we bicker.”

“Well, you’ve made it your mission to be pretentious as hell,” she had said. “I’m just reciprocating.”

“Midorima scolds you often.”

“He can scold me as much as he likes – he helps me with my homework at times. And he scolds everyone, so what am I to do? Ask him to _stop_ being uptight and serious? That’s like asking Murasakibara to stop polishing my pantry clean whenever he and Tatsuya come visit.”

Kagami had leaned on the railings, teeth peeking through her lips as she smirked. Aomine had followed her line of sight and saw a white cat running down the street. Inside the flat, he had heard Satsuki shuffling out the bathroom. She was going to join them on the balcony, telling him it was time to head home lest their parents start worrying, and the moment will vanish.

So Aomine repeated what he had seen Wakamatsu do the day he and Kagami left them outside that café: he placed, as gently as he could, a hand on her upper back and moved closer to her. There was no way she hadn’t noticed the gesture. Aomine, however, decided not to think too much about it and asked, “Would you like me better if I upset Wakamatsu less?”

“Oh, Wakamatsu would like that!” Was it his imagination or had she leaned into his touch? “You know, I bet with regular practice your love for basketball is going to incre—”

“You didn’t answer my question, Kagami,” he had interrupted. “I said, ‘would _you_ like _me_ better’ if I did that.”

“I would,” she had said firmly. “Yes, I would. He’s nice. I like him. He doesn't deserve the mistreatment.”

 _I like him._ Aomine grimaced. Did she like him enough to become his girlfriend? She blushed sometimes at the mention of him, and was rapidly developing a protectiveness over him if her increasing snappiness at his insulting the guy was any indicator.

Wakamatsu and Kagami. A strange pair. The former openly said he liked ditzy girls, the latter according to Kuroko admired gentlemen. No matter how intense and occasionally scatter-brained Kagami was, she was not a ditz; and Wakamatsu (no offence to the guy) was hardly what you’d call elegant.

 _Not that I’m elegant myself,_ thought Aomine. He was rough around the edges. Though recently he decided to improve by throwing out a portion of his gravure magazines. Sure. He had done that solely because he heard from Tetsu that Kagami thought lowly of men who read them. What mattered was that he had done it.

“How did you know you like her?” carefully inquired Sakurai. It was no secret among them that he thought Wakamatsu’s fondness for Kagami a bit odd (though in his defence he had only seen her at court when she can be borderline murderous).

“Oh, you just know it.” Wakamatsu took a large bit of the sandwich. “The heart beats hard and fast, breathing can be hard, and the throat dries up while my hands tremble as I think I become hot to touch.”

Sakurai pursed his lips. “Uh, not to be rude but eh—”

“But what?” demanded Wakamatsu, whose customary kindness to Sakurai died whenever he suspected the guy might say something unflattering about Kagami.

“Sorry, sorry!” Sakurai flailed his hands. “It’s just what you said sounds more like a heart attack than love! Sorry if it’s offensive – I wasn’t intending to be rude!”

Wakamatsu waved him off, smiling now that there were no slights around the corners. “I suppose it’s like that,” he said with a laugh. “But I just—” he chuckled— “I just like her so much. Momoi, you don’t think I’m asking her out too fast, do you?”

“I don’t think so at all! Imayoshi-senpai might advise caution, but I think it’s better when a man knows what he wants and goes after it quickly rather than sit around hoping that others won’t take interest,” she said firmly, foot digging into Aomine’s own beneath the table as her disapproving stare glared into him. Momoi had listened to him complain about the predicament all weekend long and eventually snapped at him to be more direct.

Aomine pointedly avoided her gaze.

Things fared no better in the prefecture of Kanagawa. Kise leaned against a tree in the courtyard, looking at a picture of Kagami taken during the Winter Cup. Then he lifted his gaze to watch Yabuki Hana laughing in the distance. She noticed his attention and waved at him.

Kise did not return the gesture.

“Why’re you being rude?” asked Kasamatsu, who had returned from a trip to the vending machine. “Isn’t she from your class?”

Glowering, he said, “Senpai, did you know that Kagamicchi thought I was dating her?”

Kasamatsu shrugged. “It’s not a bizarre assumption. You’re surrounded by girls. Why wouldn’t she think you’re taken?”

“Because I like _her_!” Kise groaned and shoved his phone into his captain’s face. “Look at how sweet she is! I want to see that smile every day, not just when we’re throwing hoops. You didn’t see her face when I told her I didn’t have girlfriend – it was so sceptical! I bet she still believes those rumours spread by Yabuki and her friend at Seirin.”

“Why don’t you just ask her out on a date then?” asked Kasamatsu, who was growing exasperated by how dramatic his teammate was. “You’re good at that, aren’t you?”

“I can’t.” Kise folded his arms, misery written all over him. “Kagamicchi won’t believe that I’m genuine in my offer. Plus,” he frowned, “I overheard her conversation with Wakamatsu and they’re planning to spend a whole day at Yoyogi Park in two weeks. She’s so fond of him that I bet any attempts to speak ill of him – even subtly – will earn her immediate disapproval. It’ll be like how in Sims you can see an NPC’s feelings for you drop after a negative interaction.”

Personally, from what he had seen and heard, Kasamatsu was of the opinion that Wakamatsu would be a good match for Kagami if only because he was the only man who consistently went out of his way to spend time with her outside of basketball. Hell, he helped her send a package and Moriyama said he had seen him buying flowers (which later Kise confirmed were for Kagami). Whatever his thoughts were though, he couldn’t just say it to his teammate without suffering a headache later.

“Go to Seirin today,” he said.

“Why?”

“Well, you like Kagami, don’t you?”

“I do,” said Kise swiftly. “With all my heart.”

“With all your heart, eh?” Kasamatsu gave him one of the two juices he’d bought for himself. He took the phone from Kise’s hand and looked at Kagami’s grinning face. “If you like her with all your heart then instead of glaring at Yabuki Hana, you’d tell her that you’re not interested and go spend time with Kagami.”

“She’ll want to play basketball with me. Not that it’s a bad thing…” Kise clicked his tongue and sighed. “It’s not bad at all, however, I just wish I could figure out how to take her somewhere nice without leaving her to deal with other girls. Kurokocchi told me that she didn’t have many friends at school outside of the club, and I suspect she was bullied when she first came to Japan. I don’t want to, you know, be the cause why her high school experience is ruined. You of all people must have an idea of how… _intense_ my fans can be.”

Kasamatsu scowled. He never liked it when girls flocked to the gym to see Kise play, and poor Kagami will definitely be startled when they consider her a threat when she is one of the people capable of stifling Kise’s hubris.

“If you want to avoid her for her own sake then that’s admirable in of itself,” said Kasamatsu. “But you do understand that you can’t then complain when you see Wakamatsu hold her hand or hear Kagami praise him, right?”

A cold shiver went down his spine and it was NOT the wind. Kise turned off his phone and shoved it back into his pocket, fierce determination gleaming in his golden eyes. “Senpai,” he said, “we don’t have practice today, right?”

“No, the gym’s being cleaned.”

He nodded. “I’m going to Seirin after school.”

Kasamatsu scoffed. “Better tell Yabuki Hana you don’t like before you do lest they think you a cheater.”

“Their opinions don’t really matter to me all that much. But,” he sighed, “I’m worried how Kagami will see me if the whispers get back to her – and they probably will.” Kise still disliked the disbelieving expression with which she regarded him on Saturday when told he had no girlfriend. “She watched too many period dramas with honourable men.”

“Good for her!” said Kasamatsu. “With how many guys chasing her, it’s best that she knows what she likes; even if it is because of—did you say period dramas? Like Mifune Toshiro’s films?”

“Momocchi’s research says she likes Jane Austen adaptations and a show called _North and South_ with Richard Armitage.” Kise hid a smile. “She saw CDs of their soundtracks in Kagamicchi’s flat so she must like them a lot to own that.”

“Full of surprises, isn’t she?”

The smile which Kise had tried to hide won the battle, and, grinning, he said, “Yeah. Yeah, she is.”


End file.
